Unspoken: Crane's Past
by Skyyler
Summary: A Crane X Mei Ling romance. A bird's dream is finally fulfilled, but does the saying, 'Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it' strike him as a victim to an even harder life? Rated T for blood, violence, action, romance, and scenes.
1. Victory, or Loss?

**Unspoken: Crane's Past**

Chapter 1

Victory, or Loss?

By: Skyyler

* * *

"Alright students, you may now go back to your quarters." The buffalo yelled at the mighty rhino students that were already sweating to the beat of their own battles in training. "You need the proper amount of sleep in order to wake up nice and early tomorrow." He smiled, as each and every one of his students began to trudge away from their training grounds. They were exhausted, but they knew that if they showed it, they would be kicked out of the Faim Lee Dah Kung Fu Academy for sure.

The buffalo's head quickly twitched to his left, as he eyed the building in front of him. "Crane! I need you to clean up this mess!" He yelled.

Out of no where, a long-beaked bird swept in from the dark skies, and landed right in front of him. "Consider it done, sir!" He chuckled in a happy manner. The buffalo just stomped away, without giving a remark.

The sun was already set, and the stars were just beginning to appear out of the dim-lit sky. And of course, the massive, neon blue full moon was already high in the sky, as well. This was the time of the day when every single one of the students went back to their quarters, to get to sleep. Crane could swear this place was like boot camp, and for that he liked. He had the ability to do the great things that they could do, and then some. He was just a little too shy to even step up to his dreams of training with them. He heard that the new students tryouts were already coming up. He wanted so desperately to get into it, but...

"Crane! Get sweeping!"

Quickly scattering away from his drowning thoughts and dreams, Crane immediately got to work. Not only did he have to sweep, but even do the laundry, hang it all up, and afterwards, do it all over again, by picking up all the left-over sweaty tank tops and shorts laying around that the careless student rhinos threw all over the place.

After the laundry, he had to clean up the training grounds. He was so used to this, it was nearly a piece of cake putting everything back in order.

Smiling, the bird flew behind the displaced staffs, and swung them back to another wall, in which they were first set, every day. He also swept the floorboards with a simple swipe of the wings. The dust quickly flew off the deck he was located on. Once done with that task, he finished up by blowing out all the candles that were lit, with as well, another swipe by the wings. Landing gracefully, he-

"Crane...!" A struck voice came. He opened his eyes, to see his friend, Mei Ling, staring at him in wonder. "You're amazing!" She smiled. Her bright yellow eyes shined at him, as her alive, innocent face gave him a look of awe.

He blinked, and quickly looked over what he did. "Wh... me?" He looked back at her.

"You should try out for the school!" She kept her sweet smile on him.

Crane giggled at her. "No, that's..." He began to stutter his words. "Craziness... t-talking." He's never actually talked to Mei Ling this personal before. He was so nervous around her, but he didn't know why. He then thought it over, raising his shoulders. _I'm not as strong as those guys! What is she thinking? _He smiled once again. "No, no no no..." He reassured.

A sense of inspiration filled Mei's eyes, as she sighed inward. "Well, you'll never know, unless you try." She spoke with soft words, walking off with a swing in her step.

Crane began to think. _Well... if I can set that good of an impression on Mei Ling, the best student fighter in the academy, then what will my fighting look like in the actual try-outs? _He looked down, as he finished up his sweeping. _Okay, I guess I'll give it a try..._ He thought over what he just said. Smiled. _No, I'm going to get into that academy, no matter __**what **__anyone may think! _

And there, his training began.

* * *

Crane finally finished his last set of push-ups, when Mei Ling stepped out. "Crane, are you ready for the try-outs tomorrow?"

The bird quickly got up at her response. He looked at her, and hummed. "I'm pretty sure I am." He smiled back at her.

Mei Ling, nodded. "Good! I hope to see you there!" She slowly walked back out, into her room, which was situated right next to his.

_Oh no Crane, are you really ready for the try-outs? _Crane clenched his beak shut in determination. _Yes, I.... I am. I mean, how hard can they be?_

* * *

**BAM! _BIFF! Pow! _**

Grunts of pain rattled out from the arena from the try-outs, as Crane slowly made his way over to it. His legs were shaking, as he could see rhinos and buffaloes running into the arena, to get the red flag that they were supposed to get, in order to get into the academy, and being flung back out. They had no strategy at all... they were just running in there, and getting pounded by the unseen obstacles that soon took them out, one by one! Crane was quickly losing his cool, as he slowly backed away from the arena.

The buffalo master grunted. "Pathetic. Not _one _of you can do this?" He looked around to each and every one of the injured and bruised 'warrior's. He shook his head at them, and began to turn away.

"Wait." A feminine voice came. It was Mei Ling. "There... is one..." She directed her paw over to a bird in the distance.

It was Crane, who was standing there, embarrassed that he even came. "Uh, hi, everybody..." He chuckled in a nervous manner.

An awkward silence filled the air.

"Crane?" The buffalo asked.

Laughter filled the training grounds, as it grew louder and louder. Crane could hear rants about him being too small, and not knowing anything about Kung Fu and such... "W-With those skinny legs??" He laughed even louder, as he couldn't keep his eyes open from the tears that were flowing out.

Mei Ling looked at the crowd, who were all doing the exact same thing that the buffalowas doing. She felt so much pity and sorrow for the bird, as she walked over to him.

"That's the... first time that's ever been mentioned..." He half chuckled, along with the laughing, pointing rhinos all around him. He wanted so badly to hide his shame, but with what? By going back to his every day life?

"Crane," The buffalo sighed without a doubt, Crane couldn't take on the course. "Since you're here, why don't you get started cleaning." He tossed Crane a broom, giving him the order to clean up the rest of the place through his eyes, while the laughing continued in the background.

Mei Ling walked to Crane, and slowly looked up into his eyes. "I'm... so, sorry." She looked away in her own shame. She began to think it was her own fault that she invited him to come.

"Ah, don't... worry about it." Crane shook off his embarrassment, and stayed in his safe, emotionless box. "It's... It's totally fine-"

"Crane! Get goin!" The buffalo yelled back. "There are teeth everywhere!"

The bird softly sighed, and looked away from his ashamed friend, as he walked away to go broom. "It's fine, really..." He continued to talk to himself, as he swept what seemed like thousands of teeth that were on the ground. Once stepping over some yellow line, he-

_**Twack! **_

A block of wood came and nearly hit Crane. Gasping, he blocked it with his broom. He blinked, and looked up.

"Crane, stop!" A voice yelled out of no where. Apparently, the others were aware of what Crane was facing. He was facing what the others had failed. He frantically looked around, as adrenaline rushed through his veins. "Now, step out, slowly..." His master spoke in a calm voice.

Crane looked to where the red flag was located. _"All you need to do, is get that red flag." _Crane softly gasped. _This is your chance, Crane. You can show them what you've got, Crane... come on, just go! Either go, or forever wish you had! _Crane looked over the course. The obstacles... they were like hanging laundry! If you don't get the right speed, you might drop them on the floor, but if you have everything perfect, you may just get them perfectly on the rack...

Hope filled Crane's eyes, as he slowly looked back, to the only animal that inspired him to come, and that was Mei Ling. She smiled, and nodded at him to go. "You can do it, Crane..." She softly whispered under her breath.

He took his first step. Another log came swinging in from nowhere. He blocked it, and dodged another. He gasped. He knew he could do this, all he needed, was hope-

Crane dodged yet another one, and flew straight through the course, all the while blocking and dodging sticks and logs along the way. He smiled, as he quickly dodged another, and another, and _another _log! _I can do this... I can do this! _He kept whispering to himself, as he kept his wings out, and his body tense. Through his body, he could feel a sense of lightness and complexity that he couldn't even explain. It was so great! And all he, and anyone else needed to get through this course, was reassurance...

He blocked yet another one and another, and when that moment finally came, he took it, and landed perfectly, in front of the red flag. All he needed, was _confidence. _He grabbed the flag, smiling all the while, and walked back out, to the cheers of the crowd. They had finally accepted him!

"Crane, that was incredible!" Mei Ling came up to hug him tightly.

"It was... nothing, really-"

"Oh, don't fool yourself. You passed the course. You are now a student of the Faim Lee Dah Kung Fu Academy." The buffalo said with a grunt. "Not only will you be sweeping, but you will also be training." He squinted. "Pack your bags. Be ready by sunrise." He began to walk away.

Crane looked at Mei Ling. Her impressively proud smile slowly faded, as she thought. "Wait... what does he mean, 'pack your bags'? Does... does that mean you're moving to a different part of the academy?"

The bird thought about it, as well. He swallowed. "I... I think so..."

Mei seemed a bit struck. She slowly looked away. "Will you... come visit, anytime?"

Crane's breathing was slow, as his wings slowly flapped at the side of his body. "I'll try, the best that I can." His eyes came back to meet hers. He softly sighed. "I-"

"Crane! Get sweeping!" The buffalo yelled from his quarters.

Crane just nodded at the buffaloes direction. "Well, I better start cleaning back up..." He took his battered broom, and began to sweep, once again. It seemed nothing changed, but, got a little bit harder. And what made it even more heart-breaking, he would probably have to move away from his one and only friend, Mei Ling... into a 'better' room for the 'better' students such as the males. Or so everyone thought...

"I'll... see you tonight, Crane..." Mei Ling slowly walked away, still dumb-struck that Crane had to leave her so fast.

And there, as the rhino's and soon-to-be students departed back to their quarters, that same bird was left there to clean up their mess. The dim of the night was just at dawn, as, once again, the stars cleared a shining path into space above. The moon shed it's blue light upon the gray-scaled scenery around. It was peaceful, but still, disturbing. Crane couldn't get over the thought, that he had to leave the only animal whom he only trusted, his training buddy, his one and only true friend; Mei Ling...

* * *


	2. Department

Chapter 2

Department

* * *

Once finishing the night's job, Crane flew back to his room. The cool air of the night swept his soft feathers back, as he landed on the high-deck's surface of his dorm. Sighing through his nostrils, he looked around once more, to make sure nothing was out of place. Finding everything was perfect, as usual, he walked inside.

"Crane." A voice came behind him.

Crane turned around, finding a striped mountain cat staring at him with her glowing yellow eyes. "Hi, Mei Ling." He said lightly. Smiling, he turned all the way around, and faced her.

She forced a smile back, and looked around. "I'm so proud that you got into the academy." She chuckled, as she made her way to the edge of the deck they were located on. She leaned against the wooden railing, as her body faced out, amoung the sparkling city.

Crane walked over to her, wings to his side. "Thanks, I umm.." He blinked. "I can't say thank you enough for inspiring me to get in, though. You were... a great help." He cringed. _Was that too much? _

Mei Ling half-chuckled, still looking out. "You're too sweet."

The bird smiled. "Thank you." He was still frozen in his own being. He couldn't loosen up to her. But, why? Why can't he talk to her, now that he made it into the academy? They used to be best friends, but now, they can't even have a proper conversation...

"So, have they told you where you were going to stay?"

"No, not yet, but by sunrise, they will."

Mei's muscles tensed. She closed her eyes, and lowered her head. "Well, I..." She cleared her throat, and slowly looked back up. "I hope everything works out." She turned to him, as they locked eyes. "If you need any help, feel free to ask. I mean, I'll be here whenever you need me."

Crane smiled. "Me too." He looked up at the moon. "I have to go to bed, now. My new master wants me up quick and early tomorrow!" He chuckled, soon looking back at her. "I'll... see you soon, Mei." He began to turn from the mountain cat, and walk away, head down. He softly sighed, and began to keep his pace.

Silence came.

A slight whimpering noise soon came from behind him, when something came to him and smothered him. It was Mei Ling. She hugged him tightly, burying her furry head in his neck. He looked at her in his own surprise.

"I'll miss you, Crane.. so much..." She clenched her jaw even tighter, along with her eyes.

Crane blinked, and slowly lowered his wings back onto her. "It's..." He looked down at her low tail. "It's okay... Mei, I..." He didn't know how to comfort her. He was never actually... _this _close to an animal, well, only... once. "I know, goodbyes are, very hard... but..." He sighed softly. "But this isn't goodbye!" He smiled, as he took hold of her. "I'll still visit you. I promise!"

Mei Ling swallowed. "I know, I'm just... you're my only good friend, Crane. And, I don't want something like this to tear our friendship apart."

Crane smiled. "Well, it won't." He backed away, so that he could look into her eyes. "I'll come back, when you call me." He reassured. "There's not even a need to say goodbye."

Mei laughed through her emotions. "You got that from that poetry book you bought from the nomad right outside this academy, didn't you?"

Crane chuckled. "No, that one I really made up."

Mei shook her head, smiling. "Fine. Could you maybe, wake me up when you're about to leave, tomorrow? Just... for a last goodbye?" She walked closer to him.

The bird nodded. "Will do."

Mei hesitated. "Promise?" She stuck out her paw.

Crane squinted in a light fashion. He brought his wing out, and hooked it with her paw. "I promise."

Mei smiled once more. Hugged him. "Good night, for the last time, Crane." She hugged tight, as she nuzzled her nose into his neck.

He smiled. "Sweet dreams."

They parted, and broke off from each other.

"Remember your promise!"

"Morning due!" Crane yelled back.

"Be quiet, whoever is down there! I'm trying to _sleep!_" A rough voice came up from an open window.

Crane and Mei looked at each other, and rushed into their rooms, all for a good night's rest... finally.

* * *

**Morning, 5:00 AM**

* * *

"Crane! Get up! Are your bags packed?" A stray, low voice called into his room.

Crane blinked his eyes open, and brought one of his feet down, shaking the sleepiness out of his head. "Uh- I.. yes, I have my bags packed!" He quickly flew out his room, not realizing that would be the last time leaving his it.

The fast-paced sound of faint dragging of the feet began to crescendo into Crane's ear-drums, as the sound of yelling also came into his hearing vision. Outside, the sunrise was just appearing, as it let a small slit of light into the gray-filled skies. The gloomy sound of tiny droplets of rain also slowly came at Crane, as he flew down the steps of the main dorm. Looking outside to where all this marching and yelling was coming from, his eyes widened. A thousand at most were exiting their areas, all males, and all marching out. But... where?

Crane shook his head in confusion. "Uh... Master! What's happening? Where is.. everyone going?" He softly asked.

His master ignored him, as he continued to scream orders to the massive crowd outside.

Walking out the sliding doors, Crane looked across. He found the students were all trudging somewhere far... Squinting, he took flight, and looked down. They were marching _away _from the academy. _But why? Where are they going? _Crane twitched at his own thoughts. Flying back down, he attempted to confront his master again, soon to get shot back down by his orders. Finally giving up, he flew ahead of the crowd, and looked out, to where they were going. He couldn't see anything, though, because the mist from below was already starting to build from the light rain. Sighing, he flew back down, once again, and joined his mates in their march, to no where, it seemed...

* * *

"Get up, you fool." A sharp pain shot her cheek. A slap. Gasping, she shot her eyes open, and rolled with the blow. "We need shoppers, and here they come. Remember your duty."

She rubbed her eyes. "To sell. To sell, sell, sell." She grunted.

"Yes, now go! They're coming up the road, and we have the exact weapons that they need. Trust me, I know..." The lady-like voice rumbled, as she walked out.

The red fox sighed, as she slowly got up, stretching. Blinking her blurry eyes a couple times, she looked in the dirty mirror located near the corner of her 'room'. Her dim green eyes didn't shine, or at least, couldn't, any more. Here in this part of China, it _always_ rained in the fall. The sun was never out, and everything was just so wet and gloomy. She didn't even bother looking at herself anymore, because her eyes could only shine when there was something for them to shine with-

"Song! Get moving!" The angry voice came in again.

She sighed. "I'm coming..." She rushed out, grabbing a few weapons she made last night.

* * *

"Crane, get down here! Just because you can fly, doesn't mean you're allowed to!" A commander rhino yelled.

Crane looked down. "Okay! I'll- I'll be right down!" He shifted, as he began to fly downward. Soon finding himself on the ground, he looked at the others, who grunted at his appearance.

"_Why is he even here... he doesn't even **have **any muscle in those skinny little wings of his..." _Whispers and rants came from the animals near him. Crane acted like he couldn't hear them, just as they wanted. _Just as they always wanted..._ Flapping his wings back onto his side, he looked straight ahead, finding that many other rhinos and students were in front of him. He had no idea where they were all going. Maybe it was just a workout routine, or something?

* * *

Song held two double-handed khandas at each hand, as she looked to where the crowd was coming from. They were the students from the academy! She wanted so bad to get into the academy, for many reasons... one, to train herself to wield her own hand-made weapons, and two, to... well, she didn't like to talk about it. She blinked in anxiety, as she looked at her swords. Walking over to a rack, she placed both swords on it, and made them look presentable. This was the second time that Song actually got to sell something, on her own. The rest of the time, her (rather abusive) mother would do all the yelling and selling.

Song took a deep breath. Taking a moment to think over how well this will go, she looked down. After a satisfying moment passed, she picked her head back up, and inhaled.

"Swords! Get your swords, here! Hand-made, battle-ready, perfect swords! Any type, you choose!"

* * *

"...from India, Japan, North America, and of course, China itself! Get your swords, here!" A small, feminine voice slowly came into Crane's hearing. He chuckled. _I don't think I can hold a sword..._

"Yeah, you think I can buy one of them big swords?"

"Sure! The Khanda. Made originally from India! That would be 556 Renminbi, sir!"

"556 Ren, eh?" Chuckles came from the rhinos and buffalo's all around. "How about ten?"

An awkward pause came, as the current of the students started to slow.

"Uhmm, no, you have to pay the full price."

"Well, sorry, little girl, but I don't have that kind of money."

She nearly growled. "I should be the one saying sorry, then. If you don't have the money, you can't buy the sword."

Grunts came from the crowd. _Uh oh... _Crane hesitated to look to what he knew was going to turn out bad.

"I need this sword in order to keep myself safe." His voice turned lower.

"No, you don't! You _have _a sword right there!" Crane saw her point to his waist, which held a Chinese Jian.

"Just take the sword, Shin." Another student scolded in a light manner, as others began to crowd.

The student squinted at the little fox girl. "Give me the sword."

She squinted back. "No." She clenched her fist.

Crane quickly flew over to where this was going on, and stood where the already formed audience stood.

"Give, me, the sword." He rumbled.

"I will not."

In a quick heap, the rhino clenched his teeth, all the while quickly raising his fist.

In a flash, Crane rushed between them, and held out his wings. "Hold on..." He gasped. "Ma'am, I think he was trying to give this to you..." He reached into his sack, and gave her 600 Ren.

She slowly took it, as she backed away.

"You can get your sword now, nothing to get mad about, here..." He settled.

The rhino huffed, as he pushed passed the bird, and grabbed the sword. He stomped off, without a second thought or word.

Crane kept his position, until every other rhino began to part, and go back to their walking. Crane let down his shoulders in relief, as he looked behind himself, finding the little fox girl standing tall, looking at him closely. Her green eyes seemed to sparkle, but for what reason? There was no sun out to reflect such... He softly breathed, as he turned around. "Are you sure this is a good place to sell your swords, little-"

"The name's Song, and I am _not _a little girl." She growled.

Crane blinked in surprise. "Well, shouldn't one your _parents _do this for you?"

Her eyes softened up, as if in shock. "My parent doesn't know how to sell..." She looked away.

"What was that?" A stern voice came from inside their damp tent. Crane looked up, to see a lady pig, stomping out, to the fox. "Song, what did you just say?" She hissed.

"I uh... I didn't say anything, mam." She looked down, to show her respect.

Her 'mom' squinted. Then turned to Crane. "You have a problem with my daughter?"

"No, of course not! I was just-"

"Good, then** get outta my sight!**" She pushed her fox daughter into the tent, and started yelling as if no one was hearing.

Crane slowly backed away, and began to turn, soon-

_**SLAP!**_

A cry came from the tent, as Crane quickly flung his body back around, and began to make his way toward the tent. _What is she **doing?-**_

"Come on, Crane! What's takin you so long?" His master finally barged in from the back, and forced the bird a pace with the other students. "We need to get to where we're going, and fast."

Crane began to walk with his master, as ordered, while every once and a while, looking back, to hear the whimpers and cries behind him, in that tent. A sense of pity and self-sorrow filled his heart. He slowly turned back around, and shook his head of his deep concern. "I umm... where are we going?"

"To another camp. We will stay there for the rest of our training. There is now a male academy, and a female academy, since many... incidences have happened at the old camp." He kept his gaze forward, as he avoided eye contact with his new student.

"Wait, you're... you're saying we're not going back to our old camp? This isn't a workout routine, or a run, or anything? We're... actually-"

"Yes, Crane, we're leaving that place, never to come back. Well, only for tournaments. Why are you so up tight about this?"

Crane looked down at his own concern, and sorrow. _Mei Ling... _"I..." He cleared his scratchy throat. "I just wanted... to know, is all." He forced a smile.

His master chuckled in a low manner. "It is good not to be curious is things such as that, Crane. That makes you a terrible warrior."

Crane softly sighed, as he brought his head back up. _At what cost, master... at what cost..._

* * *

Mei Ling slowly awoke with a smile, as she just finished a peaceful dream about Crane, her best friend. Slowly getting up, she blinked her blurry eyes open, and looked to the gray sky. She could see the sun, high in the sky through the clouds. It was half before noon. _Didn't... he say he was leaving early, __today? _She wondered in her own fatigue. Slowly changing into her uniform, she walked out of her room, and into his, with simple steps, head high. Pushing his doors open, she looked around, soon rubbing her eyes, and looking some more.

Silence filled the air.

"C... Crane?" She asked, as her shattered question broke the silence of the morning. She softly breathed._ He said he would say a last goodbye... _She looked around some more, but, no luck. _He promised... _Crane was gone, and all that was left from him... was... was his straw hat.

* * *


	3. News

Chapter 3

News

* * *

The settle bird focused on his opponent, as he squinted just as the other did. His slow breathing calmed his fast-paced heart-beat, as his nearly sweaty wings latched even tighter onto the staff. And yes, finally, a _real _staff. He stared down the rhino opponent, as he soon-

_**Snap!**_

Adrenaline rushed into his veins, as he let the rhino take charge, and attempt to hit him in the stomach. Blocking and redirecting the staff with his own, Crane swiveled his way around his opponent, and flew his staff at his head. But, the rhino quickly turned around just in time to block it back, and throw Crane to the ground. Catching himself with such force, he used his wings in momentum to-

"**Crane!**" A barging voice clobbered him. "I already told you a million times before, do **not **use your wings!" The master sighed roughly, and rubbed his forehead, all the while Crane and his opponent panting lightly. "Again."

The other rhino stepped in. "But master, we've been doing-"

"Again!" He rumbled, frowning. "Crane, use muscle, not strategy this time." He went back to his position, just as Crane and his other did, soon raising up his arm to make the starting sound with the flick of his fingers.

_**Snap!**_

* * *

_I slowly took a step forward, as a slight smile took my face. The cheering crowd all around me just beckoned me to take it all in. And at what it seemed, I did. Taking a bow, I chuckled in a light manner. Looking back up with bright eyes, I started to see the crowd stand up in applause. Roses and daises were being thrown at my feet, as cries of excitement came from my family in the far row. _

"_Mei Ling!" A laughing voice came. I looked up, to see where the voice was coming from. And there, I couldn't take my eyes off of what I saw. It was him. He landed with such softness and lightness, and looked up at me with his kind eyes. "You were amazing." The crane smiled, as he looked at me in the eyes, ever so deeply. Slowly bringing his head up to mine in such rush, he slowly puckered up his lips, and-_

"Mei Ling, c'mon, get up." A shaking sensation touched her. Her newly made friend, ThaiLaan, looked at her in concern. "It's late..." She looked out the window of their dorm. Her eyes half-widened. "Really late!" She rushed Mei out the bed, as they both got changed into their uniforms.

"What is it, ThaiLaan? Training doesn't start till sunrise!" She stumbled out their door, and scaled ten feet to the ground, landing on all fours and chasing after her friend in a rush.

"It's not training, Mei, you know this!" She began running on all fours in order to get to the arena.

Mei looked at her in question, but decided not to ask any more questions. She already knew ThaiLaan like she was the back of her hand. The snow leopard had no time for questions, and was always impatient. But that's what got her into the Lee Da Girls Academy.

The wind brushed Mei's fur back, as she squinted to where they were headed. The big tournament arena, yes. But for what reason, she didn't know. All she did know, was that she was late. _Terribly, _late, ThaiLaan would say.

* * *

Crane spun his staff around with a big whiff, and jumped. Landing behind the rhino, he used his extra force to whip himself around, to fool the smart warrior, and get in front of him before he turned around, and smashed his feet out from under him. And there the rhino went, toppling down to the dirt training grounds in a big heap, spinning up dust and grunts all along.

Crane panted hard, coughing ever so softly from the dust that was invading his lungs. A single clapping noise came from behind him, as he slowly turned around, to see his master, closed eyes, applauding. He opened his eyes. "Very good, Crane. I've expected you to use that trick. You _are _using a staff for the first time, and we all know you love staffs."

"Well I uh.." He nervously chuckled. "I..."

"Yeah Crane, nice _work._" The rhino got up and punched him in the shoulder.

"Come to the arena. We have a meeting that you all must attend." His master spoke, and stomped away, leaving Crane with his angry opponent.

The other rhino squinted at the bird. Crane slowly chuckled, as he backed away, and took flight as quick as you could say- oh, never mind.

* * *

"Students of the Faim Lee Da Girls Kung Fu Academy. I have important news regarding a tournament starting in just two days. I am sorry for not confronting you in the days past, but it is good that in two days due, I will see you competing against the two other academies."

High-pitched gasps and mumbles came from the female crowd. A yelling question came from one of the girls; "I thought there was only _one_ other?"

"Hush, hush! Settle down, I will give you the details. If you would just stay seated we can work this out..."

Mei Ling bit her lip, and leaned over to ThaiLaan. "I didn't know there were _two _other academies. I thought there were only the guys and the girls."

ThaiLaan just raised her shoulders in question, as well. "I don't know. Maybe there's like, another sex or something..."

Mei looked at her friend. "What?"

"I don't know! You never know!" She chuckled at the mountain cat.

"ThaiLaan! Hush!" Her master whispered in a harsh voice. Her British accent seemed to just make her voice sound even _more _scary when she was mad.

"Yes master." The snow leopard shot her head back to the front of the arena.

* * *

The rhino stood tall in front of all his students. They seemed to stare at him in concern. "...the two academies that will be competing against us are the Faim Lee Da Girls Kung Fu Academy-"

"**Alriiight!**" A rhino interrupted.

The commander frowned, and looked back at the tree-stained paper. "And the second..." He squinted at the paper he held out in front of him. Mumbling to his other rhino neighbour by his side, he looked over the paper once again. Grumbling came from the crowd, as it soon turned into mumbles upon small talk.

* * *

The female rhino seemed to stare at the announcing paper in analyzation, as moments of silence filled the crowd.

"Told you there was another sex..." ThaiLaan leaned over and whispered in Mei's ear.

"... you really want me to... alright..." The head commander side-spoke with her neighbour, as she soon faced the crowd again. "The second academy that we all will be competing against will be..." She seemed to hesitate her words. "Will be the Hun Gar-Chi Academy." She clenched her jaw shut after her last words, as mumbles and gasps came from the crowd all around her.

* * *

"What? Master! We can't invite them to something as amateur as this! They're too strong!"

"This is not amateur work. We are ranked the second highest in our training methods and work in all of China."

"Yes, second. But who is first? The Gar-Chi!" Another squeal came from a distance.

"This tournament takes the top three best training schools in all of China. We are one of them. This is the first time we've been selected into this tournament, so we must train to our limits in these next two days. We will meet the day after tomorrow in this same arena."

* * *

Mei Ling shook her head at her confusion. _The Hun Gar-Chi Academy... I've never heard of them. They must be really strong... if they're the first..._

"Furthermore, we will give you the rest of our details in two days hence."

"What will we get if we win this tournament?" A feminine voice yelled.

"The prize...?" She slowly turned to her neighbour, who seemed to know more than _she _did. "The prize... oh, wow..." They could hear her whispering to her neighbour, before she spoke back up. "The prize, I forgot to add, will be recommendation to be accepted into the Jade Palace."

Silence filled the crowd. The head master looked around. "I suspect that none of you do not know how worthy and honourable it is to be accepted into the Jade Palace." She side-chuckled, and turned to her neighbour, once again. "Chan, tell them." She slowly walked away, leaving the crowd in wonder, staring at Chan.

Chan gladly stepped up, and stared the crowd down. "Master Oogway.-"

Gasps of wonder came from the crowd, as talking and commotion also burst out as soon as those two words came from their lead commander's mouth.

* * *

"The Jade Palace, eh?" Crane's dorm mate spat, chewing a piece of straw. "I don't need that kinda fanciness. Bein here is hard enough." He spoke within the commotion of all the talking around them.

"Yeah," Crane chuckled in agreement. "Life here _is _pretty hard..." He looked away, holding his handy broom. _The Jade Palace... I heard that's the place that holds The Dragon Scroll. That's probably why it's so legendary. A palace... I don't think I could even __**live **__in a palace like that. And even Master Oogway! He was the one who started it all! And he's still living and breathing... __**in **__the Jade Palace... wow, what a prize that is..._

"**Calm yourselves! **Just because I mentioned it shouldn't give you **any **hope upon getting into it. If you really think you've got what it takes, you have to train hard, like your commanders have already said. And even when you get past your _first _tournament, you'll be against the Gar-Chi. Better not get your hopes up, they might get crushed." He eyed down every single rhino in the massive arena. "You are dismissed." He trudged off, as the crowd did so as well.

* * *

Mei Ling finally made it to her dorm, just as ThaiLaan had. Softly sighing and staring down at her bare feet, she shut the doors behind her. Running up to her room, she unlocked her door and opened it, revealing her friend laying on her bed, paws behind head, body spread out. Her eyes were half-open. She did this a lot... for no good reason. Well, Mei Ling guessed, ThaiLaan _was _seventeen. She would think she thinks a lot about who she is and why she is here and what-what.

Mei closed the wooden door behind her, and looked at her room mate. "So, what was all the commotion about this wondrous, 'Master Oogway'? He seems pretty important..." She walked over to her own, neatly made bed, compared to ThaiLaan's messy bed she laid on.

ThaiLaan chuckled. "Don't be a fool. You _know _who Master Oogway is."

Mei raised her shoulders, as she sat on her own bed. "I don't. I've gotta learn _some_day."

The snow leopard opened her eyes all the way. "He created Kung Fu. That's pretty much it." She turned her body so that it was facing Mei.

"Give me some details." Mei asked, laying down and closing her eyes.

ThaiLaan smiled, and looked back up at the ceiling. "Legend says his old name was Brahmut. Born in India, he was raised a 'perfect' child. His parents and guardians kept the horrors of the world away from him, because they wanted him to be pure. At around age twenty, he married. He wanted to see the world by himself, _without _any assistance, and there, he saw it all. He saw the traits and looks of a beggar, a prostitute, anything you could even think of. Just think of Master Oogway walking through New York City in North America."

A silence filled the room. "New... York?-"

"Never mind. Anyways, he then searched the world for enlightenment. No luck. After meditating in deep concentration for about forty-nine days in this place called The Sacred Pool of Tears, he came back a different turtle. He changed his name to Oogway, and began learning from himself the way of the _dragon._"

Mei blinked. "The... dragon? Is that where the Dragon Scroll came from?"

"Shush, I'll get to that later." She slowly breathed in through her nostrils. "No one knows where his wife and children went. They... probably left him. He began to start his own teachings about yin and yang and chi and such. This then turned into Kung Fu. It has spread all throughout China, and now hither we are, carrying on his teachings."

Mei gasped. "What? So, we're living during the time that the creator of kung fu also lived in?"

"Well of course. Why wouldn't that commander even mention his name if he wasn't still alive?"

Mei opened her eyes a little wider. "Woah."

"Yeah. Woah. He now lives in the Jade Palace." She rolled over, as she closed her eyes, once again.

"And, if we win this tournament, we may be able to go live _in _the Jade Palace with the _actual _creator of kung fu?" Mei asked consistently.

"How many times do I have to tell you... yes... now let me nap for a second. Go... train or something." She adjusted her position. "Wake me when the sun hits the mountains..."

And there, she fell asleep, all the while Mei Ling laying in her bed, wondering how much of an honour it would be to live amoung the creator of kung fu..; Master Oogway.

* * *

_**A.N: **Oogway's pastlife is based off of the Buddhist religion. I'm not a Buddhist, I just like studying religions. And to OmegaDragon3000: Stop giving me so many reviews. One is good. I know your writing patterns in all of your annonymous characters. Just cut it out, PLEASE. _

_ThaiLaan and Song are connected to A Hidden Secret, and The Return, if you would like to know more about them. Warning: My writing back then was kinda crappy. No flames, or whatever you call bad reviews._

_They say reviews are good for the soul. Okay I lied. But still, they get me in a good mood, and when I'm in a good mood, I write. And when I write, I write upcoming chapters. So go over thither and press that button! Please only 1-2 reviews each chapter. :l Thanks for reading my really long A.N. thing. _

_-Skyy._


	4. Training

Chapter 4

Training

**Two Days Until Tournament**

ThaiLaan lay on her bed, paws behind her head, eyes lightly closed, as always. Mei, on the other hand, was sitting in a creaky, wooden chair that sat right across from the window that gave view to the whole camp.

Mei Ling looked out, into the dim night, eyes half-open. Her paws were neatly placed on top of her most prized possession at the moment; a hat. But not just any hat at all, it was Crane's hat. The wind slowly blew through their room, from one window to another. It felt nice and cool against her warm, just cleaned fur. As she stroked the hat, she scanned the academy grounds. Only a couple candles were lit in the dark skies, probably from those early-risers such as her. And outside of the tall buildings, there were tall, sloped mountains crowding around the overtaking, breath-takingly colourful trees.

A shivering noise came from her fellow room-mate. She looked back, and saw the snow leopard, crawled up into a ball, with clattering teeth. Getting up, Mei set the hat down, and quickly yet quietly made her way over to her friend. Taking one of the warm, fluffy blankets from her own bed, she walked over to ThaiLaan. Looking over her, she nearly squinted. There was a scar that ran right down the back of her neck, and ended at her shoulder. She tilted her head in concern, but didn't bother to wake her up just to ask about it. She swiftly put the blanket over her tense body, to cure the shivering that finally passed.

The mountain cat examined her friend once more, before slowly getting back to her rightful place at the creaky, wooden chair set right next to the window. Getting there, she picked up the hat, once again. Examined it even closer. _Crane... I'll finally get to see you again, just a couple more days, and I can see your face again... _She stroked the hat. _And return this to you, of course. _She lightly smiled, as she leaned back in her chair. _Just a couple more days... _Closing her eyes, she rested her muscles and mind, and slowly drifted off to sleep once again, with thoughts of meeting her friend, once again, in time.

_**DOONG!**_

Both the cats eyes shot open, as they looked around. As if on que, the morning bell rang for them to get up.

ThaiLaan grunted. "Great. Just what I need, is early training..." She got up off the bed, just as Mei Ling began to rub her eyes.

"W...what...?"

"_Crane, wake up, we need to go train... _Crane... **Crane!**"

Crane shot his eyes open, and lifted his head, to see his room mate staring at him in the eye. "What is it, Xiang?" He let his right foot down from its resting position, and flapped a couple time to loosen up his body.

"Our master wants us up bright and early today for training. Says he wants us ready for that tournament thing that starts soon." The puma stripped off his clothes, and put on his newly-washed uniform.

"Really? Sounds bad..." Crane replied with an itchy voice, stretching.

"Why?" Xiang turned and asked, scratching his bare abs.

"They're going to work us hard _all day! _They probably won't give us any breaks at all." Crane changed into his uniform as well.

"Guess so." After putting on his tops, he walked over to the kitchen of their room, and looked at what there was to eat. He then glanced at the crane. "Want somethin to eat?"

"No I'm fine, thanks." Crane walked over to the window, and looked out, finding the sun wasn't even out yet. It wasn't even close to being risen.

"C'mon Crane, you gotta get _some _muscle into that skinny body of yours..." He chuckled, as he lit a flame with the motions of his fingers.

Crane squinted, and flashed his wing towards his room mate, as the wind quickly blew out the candle he just made. "I'm the only bird in this camp, so don't give me a hard time." He said in a likely, glad manner, as he headed out to stretch.

"So he walked out on you, just like that?" Mei Ling raised an eye-brow.

"Yeeah. But it was much more dramatic than that." She said in a light tone, not bothering to smile. She took another bite of her flat bread. "And you? Any hidden love stories _you'd_ like to tell?" She smiled.

Mei looked away, and looked up, as if not to even think about telling her anything. "I uh... well I don't know."

ThaiLaan lowered her bread from her mouth. "What do you mean, you _don't know_."

"I mean, I _don't know_." She looked back at the snow leopard. "I've been close to a couple friends, and at times I think about my relationship with them, but..."

"But..." ThaiLaan leaned in closer. "...what?"

Mei shook her head. "It's nothing, really-"

"No no, please tell. I'd love to hear."

"Well..." She hesitated her words. "There's this guy I met, back when our academies were together, and he was really nice."

"What was his name?" ThaiLaan peeked.

The mountain cat looked at her. "Crane. He was my best friend. We've always had the right things to say to each other," She chuckled. "I remember the first time we met..." She began to move her eyes off into the distance.

"_Hello." I said nicely to the bird who lived right next to me, as he almost closed his door. "What's your name?" I said smiling, as I leaned against the door frame to my dorm, crossing my arms._

_The bird looked up at me, as he flapped his wings a little to keep himself steady. "Crane," He almost seemed to study me over. "And your's?"_

"...and...?" ThaiLaan spoke.

Mei blinked, and looked back at her. "And... he was, just a good friend of mine. That's all."

A pause swept over them.

"That's it?" ThaiLaan asked questionably. "There's no break up, no... no hook up, no separation, no nothing?"

"Why would it matter?"

"Well, if it's _that _unimportant, then why would you even bring it up?"

"Well, you _wanted _me to bring it up." The cat chuckled.

"Ah, I forgot. Well, go on, there _has _to be more, since it's _that _unimportant." She urged.

Mei blinked. "Well," She sighed, and began to think back again... "He was the closest guy-"

"Guy?"

"Yes, guy that I've ever met..."

"_May I come in?"_

_He thought for a second, then looked inside of his separate dorm room. "I would rather you not..."_

"_Oh, alright, well I'll just..." I slowly turned and began to walk back into my dorm. He just seemed to stand there, staring at me in confusion. Or, was it?_

"_Mei Ling." He softly asked._

_I turned around, to see him half smiling, in his own politeness._

"_You can come in for a little while, if you want..." He seemed to look around, as I gladly stepped in._

"Ooohohoho, so you're that kind of animal, are you..." ThaiLaan winked.

Mei poked her ears up in reply. "What? No! We were only teens, I didn't know anything _about _that, then..." She looked at her room mate. "I was just coming in because there was nothing _else _to do, anyways."

"Mei, you _do _know that you're still a teenager." The snow leopard spoke.

"I'm almost twenty, thank you very much."

ThaiLaan just grinned. "Mmhmm. Go on."

Mei Ling rolled her eyes, and began once again.

_I looked around, finding his room was completely spotless and tidy. "I see your room is completely spotless and tidy," I looked back at him. "I'm guessing you like to clean?"_

"_Me? Oh yes! I do like to clean, but... but not here. I- I mean I do clean, but out __**there, **__not, really..." He chuckled, as he stuttered his words. "I got hired for cleaning here, and I-I'm just new. This, is kinda my first time staying here."_

"_Really? So you're saying you're not training with us?" I asked, just to be sure._

_He nodded willingly. "Just the janitor." He chuckled lightly, in a sweet manner._

"Mei, you _do know _that this guy's a _crane. _Mountain cats like you shouldn't like _cranes. _And he's a _janitor!_"

Mei Ling snickered. "I don't like him _that _much. And besides, who are you to judge the animals I may consider loving?"

ThaiLaan blinked. "Was that a question?"

"And I walked out on her, just like that." The puma stretched his hamstrings.

"Seems harsh." Crane stood up, after stretching his lower legs.

"Yeah well it's just something you have to do. You don't love 'em, you ditch 'em." Xiang cracked his neck with the simple tilt of the head. "Have you ever broken up with somebody before, Crane?"

Crane thought back, and shook his head. "No, not really."

The puma seemed to stare at him. "You're saying the _girl_ made the move?"

"No, I'm saying I've never had a girl_friend_, is all."

Xiang's mouth hung open. "You're.. you're kidding me, right? You're a what... twenty-four-"

"Eighteen."

"Eighteen year old bird, and, and you haven't had a female? _**Ever?**_"

"Never ever." Crane closed his eyes, while shaking his head. A thought then slapped him in the face. He opened his eyes, and quickly looked away. "Well actually, there, _was _this one time..."

"Tell me, man." Xiang interrupted, as he leaned against a wooden pole. "I got time."

"Oh, really?" ThaiLaan squinted. "So you're saying he got that close, but then just pulled away? What kind of guy is this?"

"The protective kind." Mei smiled. "It was our first time meeting, Thai-"

"It's Thai_Laan_."

"Right. But he didn't get any closer because he barely knew me."

ThaiLaan sat there, looking over her room-mate.

A silence passed over them, as they looked at each other.

"I say you should have kissed him-"

"I know, right?" Mei shot back, smiling.

It was after I had finished the course, she wanted to see me, that one last time...

"_Crane..." A voice called for me. I turned around, to see Mei Ling slowly making her way towards me._

_I forced a smile, already knowing that I would be gone by the next day. "Hi, Mei-" She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug._

"_I'm really going to miss you, Crane..." I could feel a tear touch my shoulder. She was crying. She was... crying!_

_I wrapped my arms back around her. "I'll miss you too, Mei...-"_

"So this is like a break-up, then?" Xiang raised an eyebrow.

Crane picked up his head. "What? No, we weren't even like that!"

"Then why'd she hug you?"

"It was just a goodbye hug, that's all." Crane frowned.

"Mmhmm." Xiang leaned back onto the pole. "Go on."

"No, I _can't _go on." Crane said hesitantly.

"Why, 'kuz you don't wanna talk about your love life?"

"No it's not that," He half-chuckled. "It's because our master's beckoning us to get a move on." He pointed to their trainer with his eyes, as Xiang turned around, to see an angry Rhino master, arms crossed, foot tapping.

"To the work room, you two. Extra push-ups for being late!" He yelled, as he walked away.

Xiang rolled his eyes over to Crane. "Thanks for getting us in trouble, _Crane._" He brushed past his room-mate.

"Hey it wasn't _my _fault!" He turned around, to find his friend walking off. "Xiang!" He flew off.

Mei Ling and ThaiLaan began to walk outside, for their daily run. As ThaiLaan quickly put up her hair, Mei Ling looked out into the mountain-scape. Squinting at the sun, which was now just rising up from the mountains, she sighed. The mountains reached tall and mighty, and their white heads represented that fall had not ended, yet. The trees all around were still filled with colour; brown, red, even yellow, from the Aspen trees. This was the time of the year that everything was just beautiful the way it was. It wasn't too worked on, yet it wasn't too natural. It was just.. right...

_I sat upon my window seal, leaning against a wall right next to it, as I stared at him. He was simply doing his work, as usual; mopping the floors, sweeping the teeth, and raking the leaves. He seemed to pick the perfect spot to rake the leaves, too, considering it was the most beautiful. Two colourful, proud and majestic aspen trees stood tall amoungst a beautifully calm lake in the distance. And below those trees, I would always sit at night, just to think about my day, and many other things that was going on in my life..._

_Once finishing every job, Crane went back to raking even __**more **__leaves, around another dorm._

_I breathed in softly, as the settle wind brushed my fur back. I raised my shoulders in delight, as the cool breeze touched my body. My dimly striped fur brushed back ever so calmly, as I waved my furry tail in pleasure. I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked a few times, before looking back at that janitor._

_He was staring back at me, as if stunned in amazement. I guess he quickly found out what he was doing, considering his blushing and raising of the eyebrows, because he turned around, as if to show he wasn't looking at me. He picked up his dropped rake, and once bending over, he fell. Into the leaves he raked up._

_I giggled a little, and looked away, as he quickly skittered himself out of the big pile of colourful leaves-_

"Mei...?" A voice poked. The mountain cat blinked, and turned around, to see ThaiLaan's snow-white hair up and ready. "You coming?"

"Uh- yeah, yeah, I'm coming." She began to walk towards her, and start to jog with her as well, all the while looking back at the two golden-lit aspen trees amoungst the majestic, emerald lake behind them.

ThaiLaan chuckled. "Ready for a long day of training?"

Mei hesitated. "Not really." She replied, half-smiling.

And there, she ran, away from the place she first came from, away from the confusion, away from the agony and pain of the truth. With tears in her eyes, she sobbed, all the while stumbling in the dim of the morning.

The skies were cloudy, and the ground was moist from the dew of the night. A little path was cleared in the grass, where the little snake sat, settled next to a tree; her only safe place. She couldn't stop the tears from spilling out of her blood-shot eyes. She couldn't stop the thoughts of what may become of her and her now widowed mother. She couldn't stop...

The girl blinked, and turned around. And there, he sat, looking at her with his pitiful and care-filled eyes.

"What do you _want-_" She hiccuped her words.

He just walked up to her, hands behind his back, eyes locked. His gaze seemed to strike her, but she didn't want to look into his eyes any longer; she just wanted to be left alone. "You knew this day would come."

She quickly closed her eyes in response, and looked down. "I know,... but why now? Why not tomorrow, or... the day after?" She began to cry in her own agony, once again.

He took hold of her, and pulled her into a light hug. "That is what you would have said yesterday, or the day before." He held her close to comfort her, as he closed his eyes as well.

"I just don't want him to leave me... I wanted to confess so much to him..." She painfully whispered, as her fang-less mouth shivered.

He hugged her tighter. "I know, I know... your father was a great master, and stood tall and close to me, but I need you to stay calm, I need you to stay with me... this day will pass as a vile memory, and that is all." He answered with a steady and whispering voice.

Viper smiled through her flowing tears. "You sound just like him, Shifu..."

_**A.N. **__So basically you get it, they TRAIN the whole day. Sorry I took so long to update, I've just so much on my hands right now. Well, keep reading, and this story will soon tie into some other stories that I will soon announce... And don't worry, I'll try not to take so long, updating chapter 5 and such._

_-Skyy._


	5. A Lost Love

Chapter 5

A Lost Love

_Made-Up Word: __Blurped__: to yell or scream in a low and impolite manner._

**One Day Until Tournament**

"Hah!" ThaiLaan quickly spun around in a ricochet, soon gaining her momentum, and swinging her open hands at her opponent; an aggressive tigress named Takine. The tigress dodged her blow, and redirected ThaiLaan's arm with hers, soon throwing her to the ground. ThaiLaan grunted when she hit the floor, but soon recovered, as she pushed herself off the ground, and did a couple spins in the air, all the while adding some kicks in with the technique. Takine blocked a couple blows, but soon got sparred out by a quick blow to the kidney. ThaiLaan landed, and got back into her position, squinting at her opponent.

"Takine is _out. _Next up:" The commander squinted at the paper. "Mei Ling, you're up against ThaiLaan."

Xiang slowly crept into the forest of confusion, on all fours. His muscles were tense, and his ripped shirt showed his sweaty and tight muscles underneath.

_Crack!_

His ears flew up in response, and turned around, to where the noise was coming from. He looked around. No one, as usual. He lightly growled, as he got back on all fours, and slowly turned back around-

"_**Hiyaa!" **_A rhino flew in, wielding a wooden staff. He raised it up, and attempted to strike Xiang's back, but the white puma quickly rolled across the floor, shot up, and kicked the weapon out of his opponents hands. As it went flying, he ran up to the rhino, and punched.

_Thok!_

He slowly brought back his pulsing hand, cringed, and shook it off. "Bloody, armour..."

The rhino quickly turned to Xiang, and managed to punch him right in the chest, but did no damage. It just pushed him back a bit. Xiang smiled, and ran up the rhino's extended arm, soon latching onto his head, and pulling his whole body back, so that the rhino fell backwards. Once both warriors nearly hit the ground, Xiang jumped off of the rhino, bounced off a tree, and did his killing blow right in the rhino's stomach. He went flying.

The white puma got back into his fighting stance, chest high, adrenaline pumped. Finding his opponent was on the ground, stagnant, he got out of his stance. Laughed. "That's what you get! Oh yeah, oh yeah..." He started to do a dance-

_**PMM!**_

A punch to the face by another opponent.

She looked out amoung China, perched on the very top of a mountain. The cold air blew, as she shivered in the wind. She could hear her fathers words of wisdom speak to her, but she was ignoring it. She no longer wanted to mourn about her father, anymore. His death was her fault, or so she thought... she wasn't there when he passed away, and now, she's regretting everything about herself.

"Viper." A stern, yet soft voice came in, as she slowly opened her eyes, and looked.

"What is it?" She spoke, in a crackly, saddened voice.

"You don't know how your father passed away, do you?" He sat with her, as he looked over the mountain-scape as well.

"Why would I _want _to..."

"Because you love him, and you can't let go of the thought that he's gone." He slowly replied.

Tears began to fill her eyes. She brought down her head, as thoughts of her father filled her head, once again.

Seconds of soft mourning silence came.

Shifu finally breathed in slowly. "It was that gorilla bandit, Zhen."

Viper quickly opened her eyes. "No..." She squinted, and looked back at Shifu. "Why, why would he?"

"Revenge..." He hesitated. "Something we all must face."

Viper's mouth shivered. "And take it out on a fang-less father? Who would have the heart to do that? Why didn't he just come to me?"

"There are things I cannot explain to you, Viper. A gorilla's rage is bigger than anything we can endure in, and with it, you can destroy more than cities. There was so much anger that was built up inside of him, that he had to take it all out on the one who first put it there first; your father."

A stream of water ran down Viper's face. She clenched her jaw tightly.

"If I had the chance, Viper, I would have fought him, but... I couldn't. I didn't." He looked down.

She looked back to the horizon, tears falling, mouth quivering. "Then I must get my revenge _**back.**_" She quickly slivered down the hill, as quickly as possible.

"Wait, no! Viper! **You can't!**"

She kept her pace, as she stumbled over herself. Her eyes were gushing tears, and her conscious was flying. She was going to kill Zhen, the one who killed her father, if it was the last she would do.

ThaiLaan softly grinned, as she stared Mei Ling down. In stance, she tensed her muscles for a quick reflexes once their master snapped her fingers.

Mei Ling squinted at the snow leopard, as she kept her stance. Smooth and ready. She knew ThaiLaan was a step up from her, and she found this out right when the two camps split into male and female academies just two years ago. She could remember coming to the academy, and being greeted by a 16 year old snow leopard. All she could remember about that day was how hard ThaiLaan gripped her hand when they shook. She could even remember-

_Snap!_

Mei Ling gasped, as ThaiLaan quickly thrust forward, and attempted to get a shot into her kidney. Mei blocked it, and pushed the snow leopard's arm away, soon glancing back up at her. She was spinning.

As if in slow motion, Mei could see ThaiLaan quickly maneuver her way back over to her, all the while doing a full spin. Her arm was bent, and her hand was flat. She was doing her Chuan Strike. A thought popped into Mei Ling's head, as she soon smiled.

Quickly ducking the strike, Mei swung her foot around ThaiLaan's leg, and bent, so that she fell to the ground. ThaiLaan quickly caught herself, by spinning back around and facing the ground with her face, and touched the ground with her two paws. She forced her body back up, and looked to where Mei Ling was. She was no where to be found. ThaiLaan raised her ears, and got out of her stance, soon turning around and-

_**BAM!**_

A kick to the arm. She went flying. In mid-air, she extracted her claws, and scraped at the ground, before she flew out of the ring. She managed to make herself stop. She turned around, to see Mei Ling charging at her.

She squinted, and began to get into stance. Maneuvering a move she learned long ago from her old master, she closed her eyes. Extending her arms and moving forward, she tilted herself a bit, to make it look like she was a little kid acting like she was a plane. Tilting her body more, she jumped. Once she half-flipped, she punched the ground to get back into the air, and thrust her two feet into Mei's stomach and chest. Flying and soon hitting the floor, Mei skid across it, and lightly hit a building across from the arena. She was out.

"Mei Ling is out!" Their master said.

ThaiLaan slowly walked up to her room mate, and gave her a hand up. "Looks like you're out, Mei Ling." She winked.

Mei just smiled. "Heard it the first time." She grouchily walked back to her place, not showing any of her anger.

"Wow Mei Ling, you're actually _out?_" A student leaned over and asked, as their master called out another student to face ThaiLaan.

The mountain cat looked over and smiled lightly. "Don't push it."

Crane stood on top of the mountain, as the rest of the students lined the border of it. They could all distinctively hear a cart being rolled up the mountain. Crane looked down, and saw a rhino carrying nearly five to six knocked out students, including Xiang, who was laying on top of all the warriors.

"Xiang..." Crane spoke in a low voice.

Their master piped up, once he saw the rhino plop all the passed out warriors onto the ground. "Six out, six in." He looked to where Crane was. "You, you, you, you, you, and..." He looked at Crane. "You. Timers, get ready to count. And... **GO!**" He yelled.

The rule of this course was to see who could survive the longest. It's in a valley, with many trees surrounding everything. The valley was called the 'Forest of Confusion' because it was so hard to know where you were. The students all went down into the valley and tried to see who could stay down there the longest before turning up knocked out, injured, or off of plea. They were all on all; meaning they were enemies to each other. Their weapons were dull, so that it did not injure the students too much. Xiang has had the longest time down there; four hours and twenty-four minutes. Now it was Crane's turn to try to beat his friend's score. He flew down into the valley, and landed, battle-ready.

Viper finally made it up a small mountain that held an abandoned mine shaft. That was where Zhen; the slayer of her father, lived.

The snake looked up, and found the walls were stone, and carved with strange markings. Monkey writings. She didn't lose her confidence, though. She kept on going, until she reached the inside. Large torches lit the inside. White fog came from her lips as she breathed out, all the while shivering in the cold. Looking around carefully, she finally sighed in decision, opened her eyes back up, and began to sliver her way deeper into the depths of the gorilla bandit's layer.

Crane was in the center of the valley, and he knew it. The colourful trees were cleared out, and he could hear distant battles all around. He walked further. Looked up a bit.

There, stood a massive rhino, bruises and scars all over and holding a wooden stave, in battle stance, staring right at him. The bird took hold of his staff, which he gladly used for his everyday chores, like... like... well, he got into stance. Squinted. The rhino huffed back at him.

Seconds of glaring seemed to pass by. _Come on, you rhino... make the first move... _He seemed to just stare on end, with no intention of attacking. They were about ten feet apart, so neither of them wanted to really _make_ the first move, because it would just be a result in defeat.

The seconds rolled by. It seemed forever.

Crane quickly heard a swinging sound behind him. Widening his eyes, he ducked, and looked back, finding another rhino was behind him, holding a wooden, dull sword, called a Jian. He rumbled, as if to growl, as he lifted his weapon again, all the while the other massive rhino that Crane was just staring at came up from behind. Thoughts spurred through the bird's mind, as he quickly made it up. He looked behind him in a split second, and looked back up. The weapon was a milli-second away from hitting his head. He quickly bolted through the rhino's legs, and looked back, finding the one who was swinging the sword just hit the charging rhino. He nearly chuckled, but kept his cool. The two rhino's quickly turned around to Crane, and started charging.

Thinking of what to do, Crane got into stance. Whipping his wing forth, he looked back up, finding the two weapons that the rhinos wielded flew away from the wind of his wing. His eyes lit up. _It worked! Now time for some action! _He flew forth and burst into a one on two battle with the rhinos.

Dust filled the air, and time began to pass, as grunts and shouts began to die down from their battle.

As if in slow motion, a bird slowly stepped out of the dust that was built up, and was rising. It was Crane, and he was holding his staff tightly. He didn't bother to look back. "I'm gonna need a cart over here!" He yelled.

**Bmmrrr, Bmrrrr!**

A horn screamed throughout the valley, as the sounds of battle all over the place stopped. Training was over. Crane grunted. _I had five minutes... was that really necessary? _He shook his head in disappointment, and began to walk back up the mountain, where the others were.

The sun was already nearly touching the mountains, as it set.

"You may go back to your dorms, my students. Remember, bright and early for the tournament tomorrow! Students."

"Master." They all spoke in unison, as they also bowed.

...

"The day's already over? I just started!" ThaiLaan ranted.

Mei Ling sighed. "Time flies when you're having fun." She opened the door to their dorm, as she kept her other paw against her stomach. "They didn't want to train us too hard, because tomorrow's the tournament."

ThaiLaan quickly ran to the kitchen, and got out some home made bread. _Hard, _bread, that is. She was starving. "Man I'm _starving_." Apparently she was _starving._

Mei walked over and sat on a bench, that was right next to the kitchen. She was still keeping her hand tightly clasped onto her stomach, to keep the pain from hurting too much. She looked back up at her friend. "You know, you didn't have to go at me so hard..."

"Ah, you'll get over it Mei. You're supposed to train yourself to take hits like that, not complain about them afterwards." She chuckled. "Like relationships."

"I know I know..." Mei looked away. She was a bit angered by ThaiLaan's choice of words, but it was okay, because she knew ThaiLaan like the back of her hand. ThaiLaan didn't know exactly _how _to be nice and tidy, except when she's around males, of course. The mountain cat looked back up to ThaiLaan. "So how'd you get that scar on your neck? D'you get over _that _pretty easily?" She nearly snickered, as the snow leopard's eyes quickly widened in response.

"It's... nothing." ThaiLaan stopped eating her stale bread, and looked away willingly, soon feeling where her scar was.

"ThaiLaan..." Mei looked at her, and caught eyes with her. "Tell me."

A medical rhino carried Xiang to their dorm and laid him on the light wooden ground. Crane leaned back in the chair, as he watched his passed out friend lay there. He wondered if, when animals get knocked out, they sleep? Because it wouldn't be right if they were _dead_.

He lightly squinted at the white puma. Although rare in his species, he looked rather nice for a guy like him. His fur was snow white except for his grey paws and the thin strip of grey that ran down his long poofy tail. He had a built figure, as his facial features looked as if they had not been touched by the sands of time. It was charming and hilarious – his face – he still looked like a child, but put into a twenty three year old's body. One would mistake him for a white wolf, but his slightly rounded ears proved that he was from the cat-family. The fur along his cheeks flicked out. When his eyes were open, his pupil's sapphire hue would cast a glow on his upper cheeks if one were to see him at night. He wore no shirt of course. He liked to show himself off.

Crane blinked. _Why am I examining my friend, again? _He turned his head back around to Xiang. "Hey **Xiang.**"

The white puma shot his eyes open, and looked at Crane. "What the..."

"You were knocked out." Crane got up, and walked to his friend. Leaning over, he examined the puma's head, and felt his forehead-

"Aah..." Xiang pushed the bird away, and felt his own head with his paw. "That hurts!"

"You're gonna feel that one in the morning." Crane spoke, soon turning back around, and walking to the kitchen. "Want some soup?"

Xiang looked back, to Crane. "Yeah sure, why not." He got up, hand on head, and walked over to Crane, who was making the soup. They were about the same height, which lucky Crane, Xiang was somewhat short, for a male in his species. The white puma sighed. "I don't think I'm ready to face those 'Hun Gar-Chi Academy' guys. Don't even think I'm ready for the _tournament._"

The crane stopped chopping the green onions. "So... what exactly do you know about... that academy?"

Xiang looked back at the bird, and half-smiled, half-snickered. "A lot. I can tell you that."

The snow leopard finally sighed. "Well... is all started _when..._"

"_Xiang?" I knocked on the door once again. Only to get answered with silence. I sighed slowly, and took hold of the handle of the door. Opening it slowly, I looked in. No candles were lit. Strange... he was always here around this time..._

_I looked around some more, as I walked into his kitchen. A dim candle was lit. On the counter, wine was set. But... the glasses that held the wine were nearly empty. There were two._

_I blinked in concern. "Xiang, are you here?" I looked around a bit more, until I reached his room. Looking in, I found no candles were lit. Finding a lit-out candle, I did the motions with my hand to light a fire. Looking at the candle, then back into his room, I let my eyes adjust to the darkness._

_Walking over to his bed, I set the candle down next to it, and felt around. Finding an animal, I smiled. It was Xiang, sleeping. I looked at him closely, finding he was half-smiling. I slowly stroked his furry cheek, as I-_

_Something... moved? But... it wasn't him. It was a paw, resting at his chest. I stared at it. He can't have three arms..._

_I slowly took off the covers that was covering him. As I did, I began to see another animal... a female. Another female? My eyes widened. "Xiang...?"_

_His eyes shot open, as he looked up at me. He gasped. "ThaiLaan! I uh... I didn't know you were..." He began to get up, as he woke up his other 'mate'._

"_Xiang, who is she?" I backed off, staring at them both. The what seemed like an orange-coloured panther began to wake._

"_Hey Xiang... what are you doing..." She spoke, voice groggy. She looked a bit older than he, maybe about a yeah older than I._

_I could feel a growl thundering in my throat. "Were you two..." I gasped, and-_

"_No no, ThaiLaan I can explain-"_

"_No you cannot!" I stared at him and his other girlfriend. "I already know how it is." I backed away, tears in my eyes._

_Xiang quickly rushed out of the bed, with only his boxers on, and rushed to me, as I rushed out, to the door. "ThaiLaan please, I know what this looks like..."_

"_Yes! It looks like you were having an affair, with- with another female!" I pointed his direction. "You know what I never should have trusted you-"_

ThaiLaan's voice began to crack. "I really shouldn't talk about this..."

Mei took her hand across the shoulder. "Hey, there's no one here except me, ThaiLaan. Just tell me, there's nothing to be ashamed of..." She gently rubbed her friends hand to settle her down.

A tear streamed down ThaiLaan's cheek, as she quickly wiped it off. "No, it's foolish of me to cry like this-"

"It's perfectly fine, ThaiLaan. Everybody does it. Just tell me the rest." Mei replied in a kind tone.

ThaiLaan sniffled. "Fine, fine..." She began again.

"The Hun Gar-Chi Academy has some pretty high standards to get into..." Xiang looked down. "Well actually the commanders and masters just take ones from the street, and force them to work and train. They say that if any of their students get into the Jade Palace, they will get promised some big honour of some sort..."

"Like, what kind of honour?" Crane asked back.

"Nobody knows. But obviously the commanders really wanna get that honour, concerning how hard they teach their students."

"How hard do they teach their students?" Crane asked again.

"Pretty hard."

"Pretty hard like very hard or pretty hard like extremely hard?"

"Pretty like you would be asleep on the floor of the dorm in your room once they let you hit the sack at the end of each day." Xiang replied.

"Oh well that's not pretty-"

"No, no, in fact it's terribly ugly. So be thankful you're here with us. Anyways the Hun Gar-Chi Academy teaches its students a more extreme and painful way of Kung Fu. They do this by mixing the White Dragon's art of Tai Chi, with the Black Dragon's way of Hun Gar. You get why they call it the Hun Gar-Chi Academy now?"

"You lost me."

"Well just go along with it. They mix Yin with Yang. Good with Bad. And the outcome: not good. But I guess you could say it's not intently _bad, _either, but still. They think it's good, and we think it's bad. They master their Kung Fu in the art of the Dragon; the patriarch of the Viper. Suttle, yet aggressive. That's why they're so hard to beat, because they're _beasts._"

"Sounds like they are."

"But there's waaay more to them than meets the mind, and trust me, you do _not _wanna get caught with them in a dark alley." He chuckled. "Bad things will happen."

"_You know what... I'm __**glad **__our camps are being split into male and female academies." Xiang blurped._

"_Well of course! You don't need me because you're too __**filthy **__to do anything about yourself!"_

"_I knew you were never made for me; for __**anyone!-**__"_

"_And neither are you, malewhore!"_

_Xiang ground his teeth, and lost control of himself, as he extracted his sharp claws and attempted to strike me. I ducked, but he still struck the back of my head. I screamed in pain, and fell to the ground. I could feel wetness crawling all over my back, and as I looked down, I already saw it on the ground..._

"_Oh my gosh... ThaiLaan I didn't mean-"_

"_Get away from me..." I hiccuped, sprawling to my feet, and backing away, to the door._

"_Please, ThaiLaan-"_

"_I said __**get away!**__" I screamed, as I ran out of his room, paws covering my balling eyes, all the while leaving him to his own thoughts and guilt._

ThaiLaan covered her face, as she sobbed silently. "I... I could still remember that night like... it was yesterday."

Mei Ling, quickly feeling pity and sorrow for her friend, ran up to her, and hugged her tightly. She hushed her and comforted her, but that didn't stop the snow leopard's crying.

"It's so sad..."

"I know, I know... what he did was stupid, and I know no one-"

"No, not that... it's just..." ThaiLaan sniffled, and looked up at Mei Ling, eyes red with tears. "I forgive him, because... because he's too much to let go of... but, he's gone now... and- and he still probably thinks I... I'll never forgive him..."

Mei Ling just held her tighter, as she closed her own eyes in sorrow. All she knew to say was 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry ThaiLaan, I'm sorry...'

The snow leopard clenched her clattering teeth, and looked to the side, as if staring at a ghost nearby. "And as foolish as it may- may seem... I... I still love him..."

The snake slowly slivered deeper into the mine shaft. The moist air was getting colder and colder... and the candles were getting dimmer and dimmer... everything about the place scared her, but it wasn't courage that drove her through those caves, nor was it fear, no, but it was anger. Pure anger. She tried to keep herself from hissing every now and then, but she couldn't hold back. She wanted her revenge on that gorilla bandit Zhen, if it _killed _her.

She finally made it into a large room. She couldn't see the roof, nor any of the walls. Shivers rushed through her spine, as a bit of adrenaline shot into her veins. She looked around frantically, as she kept slivering deeper and deeper into the dungeon.

A sound came. It sounded like... munching, or... or chewing. It was that gorilla, eating on his meat. It was coming from straight in front of her. Desperate for an answer to all her built up questions, she rushed across the room. The noise slowly crescendoed into her hearing, as it pushed her to sliver faster and faster and faster...-

She half-gasped. The noise stopped. Now, all she could hear, was her own hard breathing. She looked around, ribbon ready, teeth clattering. _Stay calm Viper... you're almost-_

_**BOOOM!**_

Viper jumped at the sound, as rocks and pebbles flew from where the noise came from. Dust began to build up and rise.

The snake slowly turned around. Looked up. It was him.

A thunderous laugh rumbled through the caves, as it rattled through Viper's skull. "**Hello, little viper...**" He spoke in the lowest voice. "**I have been... waiting, for you...**"

_A.N. Okay this is getting on the verge of T. Tell me if I should rate it up a bit. But at least I didn't mention blood. That's always safe. Anyways, R&R. It keeps me going. (Like everyone else says)_

_-Skyy._


	6. An Old Friend

Chapter 6

An Old Friend

* * *

Xiang sat on one of the fancy chairs that the camp provided for each dorm. It was right next to the kitchen, beside a sanded-wooden table. His tail was low and barely wagging. His eyes were half-open, and his back was slouched. He was dog tired, and didn't bother to show it to his room mate, if woken up.

The white puma took another deep bite into the sour green apple that he had picked from a tree by his fellow farmer friend's farm outside of the academy; Skyler. He was a nice guy and all, but his nerves could really get tested. He's strong enough to get into the academy with Xiang, but he refuses, because he has 'future plans'. Xiang never fully understood Skyler. The white wolf was always running off somewhere, not telling his friends where he was going. Then a couple weeks would pass, and he would come back, amnesic to what had just happened.

Xiang took another bite from the ripe apple. He looked over at the sleeping bird, who was awkwardly standing on one foot, beak rested in one of his wings. Cogs began to twist in Xiang's head, as he stopped chewing, and looked over at the apple.

_Bok!_

Crane tumbled over backwards with a gasp, and quickly looked at the ground, where a half-eaten apple lay. He looked up at Xiang, as he flapped his wings a little to keep his balance. "Did you... did you just hit me with an apple?"

Xiang got up. "Glad you're up. We gotta go in a few. You got your stuff?"

Crane looked to his left, finding a big leather pack, filled with his training uniform and such that he packed just yesterday. "I-I think so."

"Good." Xiang said as he walked over to the apple that was on the ground. Picking it up, inspecting it, brushing it off, and taking another bite out of it, he looked back at his room mate. "Think you gotta chance against the Gar-Chi?"

"I have to." Crane forced a chuckle, as he walked into the little kitchen. "I have to beat them in order to get into the Jade Palace."

Xiang let a moment of thought pass. "You really think you can make it?"

"Yeah," Crane cocked his head in Xiang's direction. "I mean, it's better to have high hopes on something hard to reach, than the other way around. You'll never get anywhere in life with doubts." Crane ripped a big chunk of bread from the loaf, and began gobbling it down.

"Right." Xiang blinked. "...Of course."

* * *

Mei Ling and ThaiLaan began to walk back down the massive mountain they had once hiked up. They, along with many of the other females, woke up early, so that they could get a head start to the place where the big tournament was being held; The Zang-Shi Colosseum. Not many of these huge structures were built around China, but when they were, they were used majorly. Only a few stand today in western China, due to the labour all the others had gone through.

The Colosseum was many leagues away, so far away, Mei had to squint in order to make out its tiny form. "It's so far away!"

ThaiLaan kept her pace, as she bounced up and down, jumping and landing from rock to rock, down the sheer mountain. She stopped to catch her breath. "Be glad you're not apart of the Gar-Chi. They're all the way on the other side of the mountains. They made their academy so far away for not only secretive reasons-" She jumped to another rock, and stood again. "But also for isolation, just to focus their students on their training." She looked over at Mei Ling, who was walking down the steep, but walkable slope, beside the cliff of the mountain. "I honestly think they put their academy there just because they want to train their students to walk long distances without taking rest. So when a big event's going on, they have to walk all the way over here, just to watch what's going on, or even get involved."

Mei lamented on what the snow leopard had explained. Her ears perked back up, as she walked a bit faster, to catch up to ThaiLaan. "How did we hear about the Hun Gar-Chi Academy?"

ThaiLaan stopped in her tracks, and slowly looked back at Mei. "From... previous tournaments, of course."

Mei Ling half-squinted in concern. "Is it _really _from previous tournaments? Haven't these tournaments only happened in the past few years?"

The snow leopard slowly lowered her tail, and scratched the back of her neck. "We're supposed to keep everything about them in hushed secrets. I can tell you that we didn't first find out about them in their showing in a tournament long past, but as far as how we found out about them... I cannot tell you."

The mountain cat walked over to ThaiLaan, and looked at her. "Just as you couldn't tell me about Xiang?"

ThaiLaan's ears perked up at the name. "Don't say his name around me, Mei..." She said in a dark voice, and jumped off the ledge, and onto another big sturdy rock.

* * *

"Crane, look!" Xiang exclaimed, as he pointed across from the bird, and to a rather large building with many fancy black pillars, holding it up. It was many leagues away, but could still be visible, easily. It was the Zang-Shi Colosseum. The place where the tournament of the decade was being held. And where they, the female academy, and the Hun Gar-Chi academy will be battling.

Crane squinted, as his beak opened a little. "Is that where our tournament is?"

"The Zong-Shi Stadium, or something like that, yeah-"

"It's the Zang-Shi Colosseum, you twat." A deep, low voice came in. Xiang turned to see who it was, and quickly gasped in recognition.

"Skyler?"

"Yes, it is me." The wolf nodded.

Crane looked over at the animal, that Xiang obviously knew. He opened his mouth to speak, but was automatically interrupted by Xiang's concerned voice.

"Why're ya here, man? Finally got the wits to join our academy?" Xiang smiled through his words in his own sarcasm, as he and the white wolf shook hands.

"No, I'm just seeing how it's going to turn out. You going to get beat up by the Gar-Chi like last time?"

Xiang blinked. "I didn't even know you were _there, _last time." He replied with a laugh, over all the footsteps and side-conversations that were going on with the rhinos all around them.

Crane seemed to examine the white wolf, as he and Xiang carried on their rather extensive conversation. The wolf had dirty brown shorts on, that went down, below his knees. Situated to his side, a rather large sword... one that he didn't recognize. It was about as long as his own wing-span, and it was as thick as any tiger's paw. It seemed to glow a type of light green colour, but Crane couldn't tell, because it only shined in the sunlight. And they were marching between hundreds of rhino students, which meant everything was in dust and shade. The wolf had no shirt on, as its absence revealed somewhat tight looking muscles, underneath all of his fur. Compared to Xiang, he looked much stronger. The crane began to wonder why he hadn't joined the academy. He could have been a great student!

A little voice started to crescendo its way into the birds hearing. "Get your swords here!"

He gasped, and looked to where the voice was coming from. He knew that voice... in that set of words... it was... His eyes grew bigger, as a little fox came into his view. "Song!" He flew over to her, and landed right in front of her.

"Yes sir, what kind of weapon would you like to buy? I now know how to make axes, so your pick!"

Crane seemed to stare at her. "Do you remember me? I'm that bird that you talked to just a couple years ago."

Song, the fox girl who was selling the swords, slowly backed away. "My mom says I'm not allowed to talk to strangers, if I'm not selling my weapons."

Crane blinked in confusion. _She probably just doesn't remember me. _"Right, sorry. I thought I knew you." He slowly began to walk into her little tent of a store, as he examined the walls that were lined with swords, and now, axes. The blades were a glorious site, most were pure steel, dipped in the volcanoes themselves, and sharpened to the tip. Others had a strange blue tint to them. And only one, that sat in the middle of the tent, was pure black. Crane walked towards it, examining it in awe. It was pure adamentite rock, pounded into a sword form, compressed to nature's limits, and sharpened to perfection. This was a million-ren blade. "How did you make this blade?"

Song walked over to the bird, and stared over his shoulder, to take a good look at her prized possession. She smiled. "It's a blacksmith's secret. She may not tell where and how she found and made such a blade. You wanna buy it? It'll be about a million-"

"No, no, just looking." He said with a chuckle. "That's a very beautiful sword."

Song smiled. "Thanks."

Crane looked around some more, then turned back to the fox. "So are you going to be here when the tournament is going on?"

Song snickered in a kind way. "Are you kidding me? I'm gonna be in there selling my swords!"

"Oh yeah? Well I wish you luck on..." Crane examined Song's face, for once, as his voice trailed off, and found it changed... a lot, since he had last seen her a couple years ago. Its edges had a maroon-red kind of colour, and the white spots on her face and chest were whiter than ever. But the thing that really stuck out to him most, were two big scars on her innocent little face. There were two white-looking scratches that ran from the middle of her fore-head, through her one yellow eye, and down her cheek. "What happened here?" He pointed to her scar. The whiteness didn't look like the scratch... the fur was white. Obviously the scar had been there for a while.

"Uh... It's a... birthmark." She quickly replied, and she turned away, to hide her scar.

Crane let a few moments pass, as thoughts began to swarm over him. _Her mother is abusing her, I just know it! That's not a birthmark, because it wasn't there last time I saw her! _

"Crane! Hey! Commere!" A rather high male voice yelled in. Crane looked to where it was coming from. It was Xiang.

Crane turned back around, to face the fox, but she was no where to be found. He let his shoulders slowly down. She left him.

"Oh Craaaane!" Xiang repeated.

The bird turned back around to the white puma, and his friend, who were beckoning him over to them. Crane looked back to where the fox had once been, sighed, and flew off, to get back to his friend. And _his _friend, Skyler.

* * *

"Here we are." ThaiLaan breathed heavily from her fast jogging. Mei Ling was beside her, panting all the way.

The mountain cat looked up, to the Colosseum. The very top of the walls were mostly fallen, broken, and damaged. Nearly half of the building was in rubble, but that didn't stop anyone from getting into it. It was still used for many things, including this legendary tournament. Her eyes seemed to twinkle, as she stared at the massive building for seconds.

"You coming?" ThaiLaan yelled from a distance. She was already heading in.

Mei quickly nodded, and ran forward. The others were mostly behind them, considering they didn't choose to get a head start. The others didn't really like the whole idea of this tournament, considering the female academy was the weakest, out of all the three. Or so they thought... "Wait for me!" Mei Ling yelled at the top of her lungs, as she saw ThaiLaan turn to her left, once inside the building. She heard a gasp, but she assumed it was from ThaiLaan's astonishment. Mei got to the inside of the Colosseum, and looked around. The snow leopard was no where to be found. "ThaiLaan?" She waited a few seconds, then began to turn, and walk to where ThaiLaan had once walked. _Wow, there's nobody here but us... I wonder how far away the male academy is? _

"Mei Ling." A feminine voice came. It sounded like ThaiLaan. The mountain cat walked over to where the voice was coming from, and quickly found ThaiLaan standing in a dark hallway, looking down. "They're here... already." The snow leopard wiped her mouth with her arm.

"Who...?" Mei looked to where ThaiLaan was looking, and her eyes widened. There on the ground, was a passed out cheetah. Bandit or not, it was apart of the Gar-Chi.

"Our masters told us not to come into contact with any of the Gar-Chi." ThaiLaan shook her head. "They pay no respect to anyone, except their masters. I can tell why they forbid us."

Mei Ling looked at the snow leopard, and found a little bit of blood running down her nose, and dripping down her chin. "Did he-"

"Try to attack me?" ThaiLaan looked at Mei Ling, with a confidently angered look on her face. She wiped her nose again, and looked away. "Come on, we have to stay with our group, before we run into another Gar-Chi." She walked away, leaving Mei to stare at the knocked out cheetah. _ThaiLaan's tougher than I thought... _She went to follow her friend.

* * *

"So, you've decided to sell your farm, and finally live in the city?" Xiang asked once again.

"That is what I said, am I right?" Skyler kept his gaze faced-forward. "I never liked my farm. So why not give it up, and try something new?"

"Well, you give up your farm, there'll be no more apples!"

"So what?" The wolf looked at Xiang, who quickly tried to look innocent. The wolf's face turned dull. "You've been stealing my apples again."

"Well." Xiang raised his brows, and looked away. "Now that you're giving up your farm it wouldn't be considered, 'stealing', yeah?"

Skyler rolled his eyes. "I guess not-"

"Hey!" A rhino quickly stepped in, stopping the three animals from going any further. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

The wolf looked up to the rhino, and smirked. "Just visiting a friend, big guy."

"We're about to enter the arena. Those who're not apart of our academy, cannot join with us in our tournament. You're gonna have to leave."

The wolf squinted. "We're miles from the arena, pal, sorry, but I'm staying put."

"Why, you-"

Xiang quickly came in front, and deflected a blow from the rhino's hoof. "You don't wanna mess with this guy, man." The white puma stared the rhino down, all the while Crane observing the potential fight.

"_This _guy? A _farmer? _Who's _not_ apart of the academy?" The rhino commander spat.

Xiang took a quick glance at the wolf, and looked back at his commander. "Pretty much."

The rhino shook his head in disgust, and swiped the puma away, and began to charge towards the wolf, all the while gaining attention from all the other warriors around them. Crane gasped, and quickly rushed forth to guard the wolf, but he was swiped away as well.

The white wolf's eyes grew larger, quickly ducking, as the rhino attempted to jump on him. The rhino missed, and rolled behind Skyler. The wolf didn't turn around. His tail was wagging, as if he was having a thrill with this. The commander rhino grunted, and got up. The other rhino students were now crowded around the two fighting animals.

Crane began to get up, and started to take flight, but Xiang quickly pulled him down. The bird grunted. "What are you doing?!"

"Just watch, man." Xiang looked to the wolf, who still had his back to the now charging rhino. "You gotta see this guy when he's mad." He chuckled. "Just watch."

* * *

The snake's breathing was hard and came in quick pants. She was terrified. The gorilla bandit was larger than that of what she had expected. Compared to her size, he towered over her. His red eyes glowed.

"You killed my father." Viper hissed.

"**Only because you weren't there.**" He began to laugh, as it rumbled around the room. Rocks and pebbles began to fall from the ceiling, and Viper's rage grew only stronger. She finally bolted towards him, climbing up his leg, and finally getting to his right arm. In his fast reaction, the gorilla bandit quickly grabbed the snake, ripped her off of his arm, and threw her as far away from him as possible. She went flying, until-

_**Thmmp!**_

She hit the rock wall, and quickly fell to the ground. Pain forced its way into every vein and muscle in her body. She was hurt. Bad. But she still got up, as she stared into the barely-lit darkness. She began to hear stomps, as the gorilla began pounding his way towards her. Squinting in confidence, she got back up, and began to charge at him, once again.

* * *

At the last second, the wolf stepped to the side, and the rhino tripped without warning, quickly planting his face firmly into the hard, dusty ground.

"Ooo..." Xiang cringed at the site. Crane's eyes lit up with wonder at the wolf. He wasn't fighting back...

The wolf looked down at the rhino, who was struggling to get up. "Well what are you doing all the way down there? Get up and fight me!"

The rhino grunted, and forced himself up again. Quickly spinning, he brought his foot up to Skyler's head, but was quickly blocked by the wolf's paw. In a split second, the wolf forced his paw down, and the commander's foot slammed into the ground with an intense _**thump. **_

"You sly dog." The rhino stumbled to his feet again. "You don't know how to fight, you just know how to block and dodge!" He squinted at Skyler. "You still don't know a thing about fight-"

_**BMM!**_

A fist slammed into the rhino's core, as he fell to the ground, gaping for air. Skyler leaned over and looked at him. "I may not be in the academy, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to fight." The white wolf quickly shoved his foot into the rhino's side, once again, making him flip over, and grunt.

The smile on Xiang's face slowly faded, as he looked at Skyler. "Okay now I think he went a little too far..." He side-whispered to Crane. The bird just seemed to stare at the wolf, who began to turn around, and face him.

A few claps began to emerge from the crowd. It carried on for a few seconds, and grew, until all the students were cheering for Skyler. Their commander needed a good teaching, and here was someone who could do the beating. The wolf smiled, as he looked around. Xiang looked around and slightly smiled through his concern, as did Crane. The crowd burst into cheering and clapping, as the rhinos smiled at the wolf and gave thanks, rewarding him for their past beatings with that commander. Skyler took it all in still, all the while his friends embarrassed of how cocky he was getting.

Something arose from behind the wolf, and before Xiang could yell, the commander already did it. The commander took out his sword in his own pain, and swung at the back of Skyler's head. The wolf gasped, and ducked just in time to dodge the swing. The rhino forced another swing at the wolf's side, but he dodged it yet again. Another blow, and another blow, and yet another dodge, and another dodge.

_**RRARGH! **_Enraged, the rhino began to do a slice blow to the wolf's head, and it looked like a sure shot. And in fact, it was.

_Ccching!_

Moments passed, and Crane opened his clenched shut eyes. The wolf and the rhino were somewhat paused in action. The rhino had his sword down near the wolf's head, and the wolf... had his emerald sword pressed against the rhino's. The wolf squinted, and shoved the rhino's sword aside. He got into a stance, sword in hand, along with the rhino. Now it was a sure death-match. And they couldn't do anything about it.

* * *

Viper screamed a battle-cry, as she slithered her way back up the gorilla's arm. Wrapping around it, she forced with all her might and her muscles his arm up to his face. A punch, and a hard one. The gorilla tumbled backwards, but quickly recovered, as he began to reach for her again. _No! I can't afford to get hurt again! He'll _kill _me! _Viper forced her weak strength again to pull his fist to his face, but he stopped her, and once again, flung her down. This time, she slammed into the ground with a gasp.

"**It was foolish of you to come here, but it's all the better for me... you'll finally be out of the way.**" The bandit stepped towards Viper, and began to reach for her. She could barely move, every part in her body was pounding with pain. Every time she shivered, or clenched her muscles, she cringed in even more pain. _Shifu... you're, you're right... I shouldn't have came. It was my anger that dragged me into this mess..._

"_Viper, get up, my girl." _A familiar voice echoed through her head, as she began to close her eyes.

_Father....? _Viper imagined an image of her father, looking at her with tears in his eyes.

"_Viper, what you did was right, but you're not prepared for something like this... You need to get up, it is not your time, my little angel." _

Viper snatched her eyes open, finding everything blurry from her tear-filled eyes. Her breathing began to quicken, and her muscles forced to flex, and move. Pain zapped her, from every point of her body, but her confidence was back. She was going to get out of there, no matter what happened.

The gorilla's big hand began to reach closer and closer to the snake, but Viper slowly began to get up. She started to sliver through her pain and dismay, through her disgrace and agony, through the dark room. The gorilla couldn't see her moving, but once his hand touched the ground, she was already at the exit.

A sense of hope filled every being of Viper's body, as she began to sliver faster and faster, out of hell's cave. Her breathing quickened, and the pain worsened.

A loud grunt came from the gorilla. "**Where are you, snake?**" Viper could hear him stomping around the massive room, looking for her. She was already in the stone hallways, making her escape, nearly unconscious.

* * *

Blows from the rhino's sword clashed against Skyler's. The wolf was cautious about his movements, because if he made a wrong move, he was dead.

"Master, you'll kill him!" A rhino yelled from the crowd.

"Shut up!" The rhino kept pounding, and gaining control of the wolf.

Skyler, fuming, began to fight back. The blows and blocks grew even _more_ aggressive. The pounds that hit each of their swords rippled a tough ricochet through their bodies, making their hands numb from it all. The rhino changed his movement, and swung to Skyler's left. This didn't give Skyler a disadvantage, but the opposite. The wolf growled, and brought his sword down on the rhino's sword's handle. It flew out of the rhino's hand, and stuck into the ground, ten yards away. The rhino looked at his disarmed sword, then back at the wolf, who had the rhino pinned, to the neck.

Skyler breathed heavily, as a sense of anger filled his eyes. "Are we done?"

The rhino started to raise his hands in surrender. Fear came upon the commander's face, raising his head, as the sword touched his neck.

Seconds seemed to pass. No response came from the rhino commander, and Skyler was not going to lower his sword.

The rhino finally lowered his eyes, and sighed. "Fine... I-"

_**BMM!**_

Skyler went flying across the sandy ground. A whimper came from his throat, as the rhino lowered his mace, which he quickly withdrew from his back, to hit the wolf, just a split-second ago. Skyler hit the ground with a mighty _**thump, **_as he rolled to a stop. The side of his head was covered in blood, and the ground, ruby red too.

Xiang gasped, as he rushed over to his friend. "Sky!" He felt for a pulse, as his tail lowered. Crane flew in with him, and looked at the bloody wolf. Xiang's breathing quickened. "Skyler!" His voice seemed to echo throughout the valley. Everything was silent.

A grunt came from the commander, as he put back his mace. "Lets get moving!" He turned back around, and began to walk away. The other rhinos began to do the same, with their last glances towards the wolf.

"How is he, Xiang?" Crane seriously said.

The white puma lowered his head. "He still has a pulse. But he-"

Xiang quickly stopped, as he backed away from the wolf. Skyler began to breathe fast, and soon began to pant heavily. His eyes quickly shot open. His pupils were red, compared to their normal green colour just before. He stumbled up to his feet, startling Xiang and Crane. He ran over to his sword, picking it up, and rushing over to the rhino commander.

Xiang gasped, and ran after the wolf, leaving Crane to stare at what was happening. "**No!**-"

_Ssslt!_

The rhino commander paused in his steps. Looking down, he found a sword planted right in-between his two ribs. He attempted to hold his stomach, but failed to do so, as he stumbled to the ground. Skyler pulled out the sword in his own rage, and watched the rhino slowly fall to the ground, and close his eyes, as the sand around them turned a slight blood-red colour. The rhinos all around were staring at this, as they began to step back from the enraged wolf.

Skyler's pupils seemed to turn back to their greenish colour. He stumbled back, eyes wide in fear. "What... what have I done..." He whispered to himself, as he dropped his sword, and ran, far, far away.

Xiang ran up to the commander, and looked at him. He was dead. He looked behind him, and found the white wolf, that same white wolf he knew as a great friend just a while ago, running away from the scene, passing Crane, and exchanging fearful glances towards each other. Skyler killed the commander... he... _killed_ him!

* * *

Viper was panting harder than she could have ever imagined. All she could see was that tiny light at the end of the tunnel that was the exit. The _only _exit. All she could hear were the screams and yells of the gorilla-bandit, Zhen. All she could feel was pain, all throughout her body. All she could think was _I failed you father... I love you, but I know you'll never forgive me for this... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... _

Rocks and boulders were falling like hail from the skies above in the tunnel that she was traveling through. Zhen was shaking the walls of the cave, and making everything cave in on her. She began to compromise if she was going to get out... or not. She knew Zhen wouldn't stop until she was dead and gone.

The light at the end was getting ever so slightly bigger and bigger... her confidence was growing smaller and smaller... the rocks were falling faster and faster... she was almost... there....

Light blinded her, as she fell to the floor. Her breathing was so hard, she couldn't hear herself think through her pounding heart. All she could think of right now was, _I made it... I made it out... _She began to close her eyes, as everything began to go black. She felt something touching her, as she opened her eyes just a little bit, and saw a red panda standing over her, frowning, and squinting. The last thing she saw was that animal. The last thought that passed through her brain, was that it was Master Shifu. _He came for me... he... he came..._

* * *

_**A.N. **Sorry I took so long to update. I have a feeling the next chapter won't be here in a while, but don't get your hopes down too much. I've finally decided to rate this story T, since I've already introduced blood. But don't worry, it won't go any further than that, I promise you. Thanks for reading, and please, please review._

_-Skyy._


	7. So Close, Yet So Far

Chapter 7

So Close, Yet So Far

* * *

The Colosseum was filled with warriors and watchers, masters and judges. The sun was high in the sky, as it conquered the skies, brushing away all clouds in the area. It cast its steaming hot rays over the place, as it heated every body and soul inside and around the Colosseum.

Crane softly sighed, and looked over to his friend and room mate, Xiang, who was sitting on a splintery bench inside the Colosseum, head and hopes down. The bird walked over to him. "Xiang... are you okay?"

"Guess." He shot back, not bothering to move any part of his body.

Crane looked down in pity and sorrow, letting moments pass.

"I knew he would do it." Xiang shook his head. "I just never thought it would happen right there in front of me."

"Well, you can't trust someone like-"

"He was a good guy, Crane." The white puma looked up at the bird. "I've known him my whole life man... I knew everything about him. And when he gave me that... last look..." He lowered his head, once more. "...it was like he was telling me something. Like he was saying, 'I've done something I'll never forget'. It's like... stuck in my mind now. And I can't get it out. I lost my best friend, and I know he'll never come back... ever." He sighed.

Crane set a wing firmly on Xiang's broad shoulder. "He'll be okay. From my point of view, I could already tell that he could survive on his own. Just try not to think about him too much. It only scars you more." The bird walked off, to meet his masters, letting Xiang sit, and lament on what he had just put through to him.

* * *

"Hmph." ThaiLaan's personal master grunted, soon getting back up from her kneel. She was examining the knocked-out cheetah, that ThaiLaan had just recently defeated, on an attempt to possibly jump and steal from her. "What a berk, trying out something like that on you." She turned to the whole crowd, and opened her mouth to speak. "As you can see, these Hun Gar-Chi folk aren't very friendly. Don't wanna be caught wanderin alone, or you'll be sorry like ThaiLaan was."

ThaiLaan was standing next to her personal master that was giving the speech. She leaned in towards her master. "Actually, master, _he's_ the one who's out, not me."

"Oh yeah." Her master side-whispered back, soon looking back at her students. "The Hun Gar-Chi are aggressive. If you so much as to blink while you're dueling one of them, you can kiss your arse goodbye. Since most of them are cheetahs, they're fast, so you wanna move quickly."

"Master." A lioness spoke with a slow raising of the hand. "When does this tournament start?"

"Noon, they say. When your shadows are not to be seen when inside the sun's shedding rays, that's the time we start the tournament." Their master turned, and began to walk away.

"But wait... what will we do until then? We still have about an hour left!"

The master turned around, one brow raised. "Well, you can visit with the Male's Academy if you want."

High gasps came from the crowd. "They're here?" Mei Ling breathed.

"Well of course they're here! We've been here for more than about three hours, and you girls haven't noticed them? They're loud and stinky! I'm _sure _you would have _smelled_ them atleast!" Their master exclaimed. "And also," The master added, holding up a finger. "Make sure you're ready to fight, at any time. Do your stretches, run around half the Colosseum once, and practice your Kung-Fu. You're dismissed until the horn is blown." She turned and walked away, leaving the fifty students to stand there, looking at each other.

"I don't know about _you _guys, but I'm going to go see my boyfriend!" A female yelled out from the crowd, as everyone else quickly responded, and ran after her, to meet the males.

* * *

"_So when do you think we're going to leave?" I asked properly, sitting up in the chair they provided for me. _

"_Soon, darling, very soon." The snow leopard spoke, taking another swig of her drink. _

_I was scared to death. Every part of my body was shivering in nervousness, my gums were nearly clattering. I kept focusing on the massive, clear window behind her. Outside, the night was dark, but it could barely be seen from the city's numerously bright lights, all around. Most of the animals had their windows shut, because they were sleeping, after their 'long' days. Or, so I thought. The animals here don't study Kung Fu, they don't know what 'hard' is. Every day they simply go to their work, sit at a desk and do whatever their master, or... boss, tells them to do. This place was much different than China. Good thing I was going _back _to China._

A cool sensation cleared Viper's mind, as a light cloth was set on her head.

_A sound came from her pocket, as she quickly reached into it, and pulled out a little device. She opened it, and brought it to her ear._

"_Yes?"_

_I could hear a faint low voice come through the device._

"_Okay." She quickly closed the device, and jumped off her seat. "You ready?"_

"...Viper... wake up, Viper..."

_I blinked, and shook my head. "Y-yeah, lets go." I slivered over to the...-_

"Viper... Viper wake up."

_I began to feel drowsy, as I slivered over... to the...._

"Viper! Awake!" A low voice rang through her head.

The snake snapped her eyes open, to see a red panda's face, staring right down at her, as if somewhat examining her. "Master Shifu?" She attempted to get up, but a quick sharp pain bolted through her body, making her gasp, and fall back down to the grassy ground.

"Don't get up, Viper. You're hurt." Shifu said in his usual serious tone. He felt her body, as she cringed every time his little fingers touched any part of her scaly body. "...very hurt."

Viper shut her eyes once again, and opened them, just to clear her vision. "I should have listened to you..."

"You should have. But lessons were to be learned. And you learned your lesson."

"Lesson?" Viper picked up her head, but only to gasp and bring it back down again. "I... I was almost killed!"

"Who's fault is that?"

Viper looked away, as she let the silence come over her. "I'm... sorry. I loved my father too much to, to listen to you..."

"I would do the same. And I'm sorry for letting you come here in the first place. I thought you could handle someone like Zhen." He slowly let down his ears. "I was wrong, and I regret everything that had just happened."

"I thought masters _have _no regrets." Viper looked at him.

"Who told you that?" Shifu looked back at the snake.

Viper struggled to open her mouth yet again to speak. "Master Zi... when I went to visit him just a week ago..."

"Master..." Shifu blinked, and looked up from Viper. "Master Zi... a lead commander of the Gar-Chi..." He thought aloud.

"Who is the Gar-Chi, master?" Viper asked lightly.

The red panda thought for a moment. "They're... no one. It's nothing important to you." He took the wet cloth off Viper's head, and put the back of his palm on it. He sighed. "You need rest. I will set up a camp for you. You will have to sleep here tonight..." He somewhat worryingly began to get up.

"Master Shifu, I'm old enough to know the many secrets you've been trying to hide from me. Who are the Gar-Chi?" She struggled to open her eyes and look straight at him.

Shifu slowly began to look around, as he sat, once again, lowering his shoulders. "It is not your age that I am concerned about. It's your being. You're so pure from that of your father's and mother's raising. I don't want to ruin you. But... if you, truly want to know... I'll tell you."

* * *

"What happened back there?" A rhino began to walk with Crane. One that Crane knew as a far friend.

The bird exchanged glances with the rhino, then looked back at the moving ground that he was passing, as he walked the halls of the inside of the Zang-Shi Colosseum.

"I don't think it should be something that should be rumoured about around here." He frowned. _Animals are going to be all over me for that one incident. Especially Xiang. _

"You're behind. The rumour has already spread everywhere. I heard Xiang handed the sword to that wolf, just because he was ticked off. This true?"

Crane's eyes widened. Xiang might get taken in because of these rumours... "No, that's not true at all!" He looked at the rhino. "Xiang didn't do anything that made Skyler want to kill that commander. Skyler just got up and did it!" He seemed rather angry, as he stomped away from the rhino.

- - -

Xiang sat in thought, tail low, eyes, half-watery. Not a tear has fallen from them, considering he wasn't that type of animal. He loved his friend, and he didn't expect such a thing like that, at all.

High, feminine voices filled the air, as the sound of pounding feet came into his hearing. He looked up, to see many females leisurely wandering about. About half of them were looking his way, checking him out. He sat back, and watched them go by. _Guess the girls 'ave finally come. _A lioness broke from the crowd, and began to walk towards him. She looked about nineteen, his age. She was staring right at him, as she began to walk closer and closer to him. He began to feel a little uncomfortable, as he began to bring his eyes up to her. _Well hello, precious?_

"Xiang, is that you?" An innocent voice came from her mouth.

The white puma hesitated to speak, but managed to force a few words out. "Y-yeah, it's... me. Who're you?"

"I'm Scarlet." She smiled, showing her snow-white teeth. "I'm guessing you don't remember me?"

Xiang squinted his eyes in thought. "Are you one of my ex's?"

She softly giggled in a somewhat seductive way. "No, of course not. We were friends just a while back, until they split the academy into two. I can't believe they would do such a thing, I mean, there are so many reasons _not _to do it, but only _one _reason that lets them..." Her voice trailed off, as Xiang began to spot a similar figure in the distance.

Everything began to slow down, and Scarlet's voice began to go into a quite hush. Xiang slowly sat up, as he squinted his eyes, to see what it was, that caught his attention. A black and white figure slowly passed, waving its tail ever so smoothly, walking in the most proper position, looking around as if it didn't give a care in the world what was happening around it... Xiang quickly noticed something that took his breath away. A frighteningly similar scar that ran down the back of her neck.

Xiang's eyes widened, as he whispered to himself, "ThaiLaan." He looked at Scarlet, and lightly smiled. "Hold on a second." He quickly got up, and rushed over to the animal, soon turning his fast-walk to a jog. _ThaiLaan... she's here, I know that's her! She's here! _He kept his eyes square on his target, and began to get into the crowd of female animals everywhere.

He couldn't go any faster. He couldn't gain speed to contact ThaiLaan, he could only walk behind her, and stare at the back of her head. He desperately wanted to yell her name, but he was afraid she would see him, and try to avoid him. More and more animals began to get in his way, as the snow leopard slowly got further and further away from him. He pushed through even faster and faster, but couldn't gain much of any ground. He looked back up, and couldn't find her. He gasped, and looked around. _Where'd she go? _He desperately spoke to himself. He pushed through the crowd even more, but still had no luck on finding her. He lost her. He clenched his jaw shut, and stopped walking, forcing the others to walk around him, like a blood-clot deep inside a main vein of his body. His heart dropped to his stomach, as his hands began to sweat from a loss. _I lost her..._

"Xiang!" A voice came in.

The white puma gasped at a voice that sounded much like ThaiLaan's, as he quickly spun around to see who it was. But it was Scarlet, making her way through the crowd to him. He slowly sighed, as he began walking back towards her, to carry back on their conversation.

* * *

Mei Ling looked up at the sky, squinting, and bringing her paw up to her face, to shield herself from the blinding light of the sun. The stadium was somewhat hot, but it was stand-able.

The singing came again. It was soft, but strong in its own tone. In the background, a sweet, innocent sound, not able to be made by animal. Mei looked to her right, to see a farmer sitting in the far bleachers, tail slowly wagging, straw hat down, ukulele in hand. He was strumming it slowly and peacefully, and singing in such a nice tone. She couldn't hear a thing he was saying, but she didn't care. It calmed her down, and set her mind for the upcoming tournament.

Thoughts passed over Mei Ling's head, as she chuckled to her self. _I remember when Crane sang like that whenever he was drying the laundry. He mostly hummed the songs though, because he never knew the... words..._

Her eyes fluttered off into the distance, as she watched something soar through the air. It was a rather big bird, and it looked of someone she knew. Her eyes slowly widened, as thoughts began to fill her head once again. She squinted, as she leaned forward, observing the bird.

Mei's eyes quickly shot open, as she quickly realized who it was. "Crane!" She rushed down the steps.

* * *

Crane frowned, as he began to fly back to Xiang. He couldn't believe the rumours that were going around, talking about Skyler. Crane didn't exactly _respect _him, but he knew what was right and what was wrong.

He was about to land, as he focused his eyes on the small opening of the massive inside walls of the Colosseum. He began to gain speed, as he folded in his wings. He squinted, as he-

"Crane!" A familiar feminine voice squealed.

The bird blinked, and quickly looked to where the noise came from. Along the bleachers, audience began to build. _Maybe it was just one of the watchers... _He began to look back to where he was headed-

"**Craane!**" That same voice came. He could swear he knew that voice! He shot his head back at where the voice was coming from. A site caught his attention. He brought his head a little higher from its old position, as his eyes began to squint in wonder. "Mei... Mei Li-"

_**THMMP! **_

A numbing sensation hit his head, as he soon found himself slowly sliding down the inside walls of the Colosseum. He crashed. Little bits of laughter came from the small, forming crowd all around him. He kept falling, unable to take out his wings in time-

**Bmm!**

He hit the ground. He quickly got up, as a redding sensation filled his face. His heart felt as if it jumped into his stomach. He smiled at the crowd, chuckling along with them, as he looked back to where the female voice came.

There, in the distance, was a cat. A mountain cat, who was running down the multiple steps of the Colosseum, until she got to the jump-off.

Crane's beak formed into a pure smile, filled with happiness. _She's here! She's here! _He began to run towards her, as she did the same to him. Every fiber of his being swelled up with joy, as his smile grew bigger and bigger. He began to laugh in his own happiness, as he ran, faster and faster, until-

He stopped, and looked to where she was. In front of her, a master held her shoulder, leading her the other way. Crane half-gasped, as all the joy that seemed to come up inside of him after all these years fell back into his being. "Mei Ling..." He stood, panting lightly, staring at the mountain cat, that was staring right back at him, soon bringing her head back to her feet, which were walking slowly away from him. The tournament was about to start, and their masters were out to get them, and take them back to this inside of the Colosseum, just like _her_ master had did..

Crane let down his shoulders, and looked down, soon taking flight once again, and once again, searching for Xiang.

* * *

Viper blinked in response. "What do they do to the students of the Hun Gar-Chi when they're not training them?"

Shifu let his ears come up a little at the question. "You are talking about breaks? No, no... they don't have any of those. They're always training. And when they're not, they're going through meditation."

"They're going... _through _meditation?"

"Yes, they're uh..." He rubbed his head. "It's a forced mental condition in which their masters make them rest. They rest when ordered to, and train when ordered to. It is, by far, the most brutal way of training your students, that I've ever seen. It is like they are manipulating you."

Viper looked down, from her now standing position. She was sipping cold tea. "How do you... know all of this stuff? About the Gar-Chi, about Zhen, everything?"

Shifu softly sighed, as he stood up, and brought his hands behind his back. "There are different kinds of secrets, Viper, ones that will not hurt to be told, and ones that have severe consequences once let out." He shook his head. "I learn these things from past experiences, little one. That is all you need to know." He finished off his tea, and looked back to the snake. "Now get some sleep. I know it may be in the middle of the day, but you need to rest yourself. You used your muscles in a way not possible to any animal. You are very brave, Viper." He dipped his head quickly with a small grunt, and left, to get or do who knows what.

* * *

Scarlet finally sighed after her talking. "I really missed you, Xiang. You were a great friend. All this time I've wanted to get to know you more, and now I finally can..."

Xiang's face was confused, and on the inside, he begged himself not to kiss her and leave. He hadn't kissed a female since ThaiLaan.

He blinked at the word. _ThaiLaan... _He lowly looked ahead of Scarlet, as the lioness slowly got on her toes to kiss him, as she closed her eyes. He spotted a bird in sight, and smiled. "Crane!" He ran over to him, bumping Scarlet's shoulder, once passing her. She opened her eyes, and looked around.

Crane landed softly, and looked around slowly. Not many animals were around, since their masters had come and gotten them.

"What's up, man?" Xiang patted Crane's shoulder.

Crane just shook his head. "I... I saw Mei Ling."

Xiang blinked. "Who? Your girlfriend?"

Scarlet walked up behind the white puma. "What Xiang, you have a girlfriend?"

"No, he said _my _girlfriend." Crane looked down in sorrow.

Xiang looked at the bird, along with the lioness. They both said in unison- "You have a female?"

Crane quickly looked up, and blinked. "What? No! That's Xiang."

"I don't have a female!" He objected.

Scarlet stepped up. "You... don't?"

_**BMMRR! BMMRRR!**_

A bull horn's loud boom of a sound thundered through the Colosseum. The three looked at each other, and exchanged their goodbyes, quickly rushing off to their masters. They, along with all the other high-class students, female and male, knew that that sound represented the starting of a legendary tournament. A tournament that will soon be known to be told stories about. A tournament, that was history, in the making.


	8. Let the Tournament Begin

Chapter 8

Let the Tournament Begin

* * *

Xiang and Crane stood in line with the select few greatest warriors of their classes, as they scanned the filled Colosseum. Little murmurs erupted from the crowd, either criticizing or complimenting the warriors standing mighty, or wondering where the other competition was. The judges looked around the stadium. There was something missing.

"Guess it's just us and the ladies, huh..." Xiang lightly leaned over and whispered to Crane.

"I wouldn't be so sure..." Crane looked up to the entrance, as dim shadows slowly made their way into the stadium, soon followed by a loud roar of insults and boos from the crowd. Rocks and twigs were being chucked at the shadows that were proudly marching into the Colosseum.

"Is that who I think it is?" A low voice came in from next to them, from one of the other student warriors.

Xiang squinted, as his vision cleared to see a mighty polar bear leading a coalition of cheetah bandits. The white bear was the only one that wore a white hood, and as for the cheetahs, they wore heavy leather armour. Their faces looked completely emotionless. Their chests were raised, arms back, heads high. They were the Gar-Chi.

Crane stepped back a bit, as he stared down their competition. Above all the crashes of insults that filled the stadium, he could already see these guys were tough. As odd as it seemed, every one of them had long scars that ran down their chest, and almost every one of them looked completely alike. Their single leader, legendarily known as Master Zi, squinted in pity at each and every one of the animals in the crowd. He looked kind, but looks _could_ be deceiving.

The Gar-Chi's master stopped, and turned around to his students, who were all standing at attention unto him, staring with their red, blank stares. The stadium went quiet, and every single animal could hear his war voice scream, "**Alah!**"

Right after, every single cheetah randomly sprinted out, and began to spread within the stadium, until all were in place. It was like they knew exactly where they were going to go in this tournament. Many lined up in front of the Lee-Dah academy students, glaring them down with their blood-shot eyes. Crane didn't want to react to such an intimidating crowd, as he, and all the others, stood tall and intimidated them back. He could hear the rhinos beside him growl in rage towards their competition, like those of a football game, glaring at each other before bracing themselves for the potential take-down.

Master Zi stood at the entrance still, eying the others, as the rhinos began to walk through the crowd of warriors and explain how each battle would work.

Xiang eyed the master that walked in-between him and their competition. "There are 32 of you in each of the 4 sections. The opponent you are standing forth right now you will fight in a small battle-ground, where you must knock one or the other out of it with no weapons for assistance. You all are specifically placed to battle half of one academy, and half of the other."

One of the cheetah bandits roughly growled at Xiang, as Xiang quickly glared back.

"...There is only one round. _**Half**_ of the selected few winners that stand out to the judges will move onto the first, and beginning quarter of the tournament. If you make it to the first quarter, there will be 16 battles between the 32 of you. If any of you do the math, that's again, a one-on-one battle. Each battle will have three rounds. One of clear fists, one of staffs, and one of dull long-swords, so none of you kitties will completely kill each other."

The white puma lightly smiled. "Long-swords I can do."

"Again you are trying to knock your opponent out of the area, and the winner will be chosen out of each round, added together, and will move on, to quarter two." The rhino master turned back around. "You will only have one minute to fight in each round, and only half a minute to fight in the first and only round of the prologue battles. If neither opponent wins or looses, you will both be disqualified from the next quarters. Each battle will happen two by two."

"These rules are tight." Crane whispered to his friend.

"It's the tournament that China has been anticipating since like, forever, man." Xiang spoke back. "But it's alright. Sounds easy to me." He grinned, as his eyes came back to the speaking master.

"Quarter two will be thoroughly explained when," The rhino corrected himself, clearing his throat. "..._if_ any of you get there. The battles will begin right when the whistle is blown." The master began to walk away, before noticing Crane. He half smiled, and kindly punched him in the wing. "Good luck." He pushed him aside, as he began to walk away, face turning dark. "You're gonna need it."

* * *

_Titania, is her name. Mrs. Titania. Or, should I say, _Ms. _Titania. She never tells me why, or more importantly, how she and her husband had broken up. It must have been big, though, because she always looks so serious, even when she's trying to be nice to me. But who knows, maybe she's like that all the time?_

"_Viper, this is what I want you to do." The snow leopard looked the snake in the eyes. "Take this pass, see," She held up a blue piece of paper that had the work of a professional calligrapher, signed all over it. "As we get off the air port I need you to hand this to the suited animal with the black suit case. He will give you a ride to my place, and we will continue there."_

"_But-"_

"_Don't ask me questions, young one, I know you have a very important role in China and that you may take on anything that comes your way, but right now I need you to trust in me. There are some things out there that not even _you _can handle."_

_I just nodded, as I tightly held on to the blue slip she gave me, and departed from the large dragon-looking transportation thing that they called 'airplanes'. As I slithered out with nothing but that blue paper, I looked around. My eyes widened, as a light gasp cooled my lips. Everything was so... so... oh, I couldn't describe it! The floor was neatly tiled like the Jade Palace, the ceiling was painted with the many neon colours of every flower known to animal, and... the animals, the animals wore the most absurd clothes! They..._

_I blinked. No, I need to find the animal with the suit and case. I scanned the room, but quickly lost hope._

**Every**_ animal in this room wore a suit and carried a case._

_- - -_

Shifu paced himself, as he quickly walked around in a circle. The sun was high up in the air, and there was not a cloud in the sky to be found. He wasn't hot, yet, he wasn't cold. He was near Viper's palace, just a couple dozen miles away, and because her palace was pitched high in the mountains, it was cold. Even in the summer, the days were cool, and the nights were cold.

He let the air fill his lungs until an uncomfortable stretching point, and softly exhaled. "Viper, Viper, Viper..." He turned to look at her. She was fast asleep. Her bruised body forced his eyes to lead off. He had agonizing pity for her, but he did not want to show it, because he wasn't the type to care for and love when painful things came along, like this. "Master Zi... how does she know Master Zi..."

"Talking to yourself again, Shifu?" A feminine voice came.

The red panda turned, to find his old friend, Meifeng, smiling at him. He didn't smile back. His tired eyes wandered off, as he looked away. "Why are you here?"

"The real question is, why are _you _here? And what's with your face? It looks down today." She blinked. "Well, more down than any other day, I should say." She said, winking.

Master Shifu softly sighed, and sat on a tree stump behind him. "Look for yourself." He guided his hand over to Viper.

The other red panda brought her flickering jade eyes over to the sleeping viper, soon widening them. She ran over to the snake, soon gasping and feeling the need to aid her. "What... what happened?"

Shifu rubbed his head. "I trained her too hard."

He let a moment of silence pass, as Meifeng stared at him with completely honest and unforgiving eyes.

The master blinked. "What? I was kidding!"

* * *

A female and a Gar-Chi student were both up against each other, first, as everybody watched for the 30 seconds they had. It was of no one that Mei Ling _or _ThaiLaan knew. The master stood judgmentally, as he brought the whistle. After that ring, the chain of battles would begin-

_**Tweeeet!!**_

Mei Ling jumped in surprise, as she quickly directed her eyes over to the battle that had just erupted. One of the students from her academy and a Gar-Chi student were in stance, waiting for something to happen. They only had a limited amount of time. The female rhino finally grunted and charged for the cheetah, soon loosing her balance and being thrown out of the arena in the blink of an eye. And there the cheetah stood behind her, lightly panting, and patting his hands off for the next challenge.

ThaiLaan shook her head. "Pity. You should never be the first one to act, unless you know your opponent well-"

Her words were cut off by another battle that had just started right as the other ended. It was going by fast. And soon, _they _would be up, as well.

* * *

"Next battle!" A rhino spoke with half the voice of a war cry.

"Xiang, that's you." Crane directed his attention over to the white puma.

Xiang, as nervous as he seemed, finished his stretches and ran off towards the arena. He turned to run backwards, as he exchanged looks with Crane. "Wish me luck."

Crane just smiled and nodded, as he watched, finding Xiang was against a female from the other Kung Fu academy.

The whistle blew without warning.

The female mountain lion quickly rushed over to Xiang, as she shoved a paw into his side. He shut his eyes in pain, and nearly toppled to the ground, but he gained his balance. By the time he opened his eyes, she was right behind him, about to kick his side again, and supposedly launch him out of the arena. He quickly spun and parried the blow with his fist, then elbow, knocking her off her feet. In mid-air, he forced his foot down on her back as lightly as he could, and she fell to the ground, sliding out of bounds.

Light cheers came from the crowd all around him, as Crane half-flapped, half-smiled in appreciation, as the white puma walked back to his position next to him, smiling. "You didn't wish me luck, did you."

"No, not really." The bird looked at Xiang with innocent eyes. "Didn't get enough time to."

Xiang looked back out to where the next battle was taking place. "Probably why I let that female hit me." He chuckled.

* * *

Meifeng paced, as she brought her little hand up to her face, staring down at the undisturbed ground with worried eyes. "You've done everything to stop her suffering?"

"Everything." Shifu sighed once more, as he rubbed his tired eyes. "And for the last time, she's not dead. She's sleeping, like I told her."

Meifeng kept her arms crossed, as she stared at him with her conspicuously beautiful eyes. Her face turned light, as a grin nudged her lips.

Shifu blinked. "What?"

"You've had experience with child care."

The master rolled his eyes, and began to walk towards the sleeping snake. "I have two felines back at the Jade Palace who love to bite and pull on each other's tails. I guess you may say I've had _some_."

Meifeng kept her stare, as if expecting something.

"Okay, a lot."

Meifeng walked over to Viper, and looked at her with grief. "This girl has it tough, I must say... she has no fangs, no reputation, and she lost her father to the very animal that beat her up." She looked away regretfully. "She needs a father. That's a great essential in childhood."

Shifu looked up. "It is." He agreed.

"Someone to care for her; someone she can turn to in times of need..." She turned to Shifu, and flashed her eyes at him. "Shifu, will you-"

"I will not take care of her, no." He drilled his eyes into her's. "She still has a mother, Meifeng, you know that. I would not want to marry her mother just so that I may give my care."

"I'm not asking for you to become her father, Shifu, I'm asking for you to stay close to her, so that something like this won't happen again-"

"And you think that I can just walk away from the life I have with my other two children?"

"I'm saying you should keep a look out for her, is all!"

Shifu turned his back to her. "I have my hands full."

Silence passed.

A sigh flowed from Meifeng's lips. "That must explain why you stay amoung her palace grounds most days." She turned, and walked.

Shifu's brows lifted. His shoulders lowered, and he felt a sense of remorse and conflict within himself, like he had just gotten caught stealing an ancient artifact. He looked to the side, and opened his mouth, turning around. "I..." He looked around. She left.

* * *

ThaiLaan was up. She quickly paced into the arena, and got into stance, squinting her eyes, forcing shivers to race down her spine, lifting adrenaline throughout her body. She brought out her hand in a chopping motion, and rested it in air. The other, bent, and to her side. She was facing a Gar-Chi. The cheetah had a blind eye from a scratch that ran down his eye brow, and down his cheek. His face was completely motionless, and his muscles, tense with anxiety. His figure looked built, and his paws looked bloody. His tail was twitching with excitement, and his eyes were focused on nothing but her.

_**Tweeeet!**_

Sweat rushed to the snow leopard's paws, when she saw the cheetah rush to her. She had no idea what he was going to do, and in the split-second she had, she ducked a blow, and checked her fist deep into the middle of his stomach, showing her teeth in sweet anger as he fell to the floor. But he didn't slide out. She rushed to him, flipping over him quickly as he got up, and forced her heel into his back, making out a yelp from him, as he stumbled over.

She could hear a growing growl coming from his throat, as he turned around to her. He staggered into stance, as he smiled at her. In rage, she flashed over to him, soon getting shot in the shoulder by his hit, grunting and nearly falling to the floor. She blinked her eyes over her shoulder to see another blow coming from his fist. She growled quickly, and elbowed the bicep of his punching arm, and used her other free hand to get him square in the chin, making him fly a couple feet out, landing, and roughly bouncing out of the arena.

Cheers came from the crowd, as she smiled, waving, and wiping some blood that had erupted from her mouth.

* * *

Crane slowly walked into the arena, as he eyed his opponent. A Gar-Chi. A female Gar-Chi. She was a white cheetah. Rather smooth looking, her wavy body nearly made him think who he was up against. She was a Gar-Chi?

He could hear giggles from the crowd. He could hear whispers and rumours going around, laughing at how skinny he was, and how he wasn't going to get past the first couple of seconds. He lowered his brows in anger. _I'll show them-_

_**Tweeeeeeet!!**_

The female chucked her feet into the ground, gaining speed into him, but he quickly delayed her attack by stepping aside, and conducting her fisted paw upward, giving him the potential to swiftly punch her out of the ring.

But he didn't get the chance.

She turned a slight bit, and forced her elbow down on his head... missing. He was far ahead of her. Behind her, he forced his wing up her side, making her roughly lose her balance, and topple over. She regained her balance, and sprinted back towards him, making him surprised that she was back for more. She had energy and speed, which were the basic attributes of being a cheetah. She managed to get a good blow to Crane's legs, swiping them out from under him, as he hit the ground, grunting. She had the advantage, and she took it. She raised her foot to kick him in the side, to force him out of the ring, but she was quickly stopped by a sudden wind. A fast wind, that made her foot fall in the wrong direction, making her stumble. Crane – who made the wind – staggered to his feet, and used his wings again, to make her fall. She tumbled over, but caught herself.

Crane squinted, and rushed over to her, kicking her harshly in the stomach. She finally lost her balance, and fell out of bounds.

Roars of confused cheering filled the air, as he smiled, looking up at the clapping crowd, who mostly consisted of coyotes, leopards and reptiles of all kinds.

He looked back down at his fallen component, and he could see her master pull her up and scream at her in her face, staring at her square in the eyes, and nearly smacking her across the face. Obviously their master does not take failure for an answer.

Xiang ran up to Crane. "You and I were picked."

"We were..." Crane panted. "...what?"

"We were picked, man! We're going to the next round!"

Crane felt his side, where he supposedly got kicked. A sharp pain surged into it. He cringed, and looked down. Blue. He had a massive bruise, that he knew he would have to deal with the rest of the time. "Great... that's... fantastic..."

* * *

_**A.N. **I'm sorry I've not been updating at all lately. To be honest, I've completely lost interest in everything I'm writing. I have a feeling that this will be the last chapter I will upload. I will constantly try to work on the next chapters, though, no worries. I just don't want to get your hopes up. It would be fine if any of you wants to continue my story from here, you will just need to ask for my permission. Just know that I will make more chapters, in time. _

_You all have been great in reviews and everything! I really hope I can stay with you guys..._

_-Skyy._


	9. Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Chapter 9

Should I Stay Of Should I Go

* * *

"You... _what?_" Xiang exclaimed at the guilty-faced bird.

"I can't fight with an injury like this." Crane spoke through the throbbing pain that surged from his aching side.

"Injuries can wait, Crane!" The white puma showed his teeth. "I-I..." He looked around in surprise, as he held his paws up to his head, not knowing what to say. "I don't know what to say. One, you've been trained to fight in these type of conditions-"

"This type of condition is much worse than-"

"**Two, **they probably won't even let you opt out of this," Xiang spoke angrily, as Crane tried to intervene, "And three, you'd be regretting this for the rest of your life, man!" He panted. Raised his paws to show an imaginary article. "_Crane out of battle because of small injury._" He flashed his ocean eyes over to the protesting crane, then lowered his shoulders. "Is this what you did when you got into the academy?"

Crane looked away, as time seemed to painfully pass them by as if they were standing in the middle of Merchant's Street. "No... I guess I didn't."

"And did you ever quit when our masters forced us to fight against the rhinos that we knew we couldn't beat, when we knew we would end with with bruises and scars after the battle?"

Crane looked at the puma. "Those were all forced situations."

"But that's not what I _mean_. Dude!" Xiang yelled, making the animals around them who didn't make it to the second round twitch their heads to their direction. "You did it because of what you needed, because you had this," he moved his paws around in a confused heap. "This feeling that pushed you to your limits, to be the best master that you could ever be." He sighed. "And now, when you have the chance to prove yourself, you decide to walk away?"

Crane was silent. His eyes were still diverted to the dusty ground.

Xiang blinked, and looked to the bird's side, where he was kicked. "It's not just the bruise, is it." He asked.

The bird flapped a little to keep himself steady. "I'm nervous, Xiang." He looked up to the puma. "Ever since I came here... ever since you've known me, ever since I came into this world, I've been nervous about everything I do." He paused to think, and to breathe. "And I can't change; it's just who I am..." He sighed.

"Maybe you can." Xiang crossed his arms. "You're probably in the worst position right now to be nervous,"

"Thanks for the confidence."

"But maybe it's time for you to get over it."

Crane shook his head. "You think it's that easy? I've told myself that every morning I wake up, every night when I go to bed, I tell myself that I will get over my fears, but they always return."

The white puma smiled.

Crane frowned. "What is it!" He seemed angered by Xiang's intimidating gesture.

"And yet you've overcome your fears every single time."

The bird blinked. _That's actually true..._

"Now's your moment of truth, Crane. Even if you won't get over your fear of showing yourself off after this, you'll still show everyone else what you can do, right here, right now." He stood straight, as he looked at the judges who were almost ready for the next round. "Come on Crane, lets fight."

"I..." Crane twisted his long neck around to see what was happening, as the sense of anxiety filled every fiber of his being once again. He let his brows fall, as he could feel the laughter and teasing come from the crowd. "I can't..." He ran off, into the bunkers where the fighters got ready, leaving Xiang standing, blank, confused, and most of all, alone.

* * *

Mei Ling sat patiently in the bunkers. She paid no attention to the glaring Gar-Chi cheetahs that seemed to mock her with their rage-filled eyes. She and ThaiLaan made it into the second round, where as many of the others didn't. She could see that the 32 places were filled with mostly Gar-Chi warriors, but it was predictable, they had the training of masters. They were mysterious, and almost pitiful looking, under their thick, unforgiving skin. It was as if their innocent minds decided to take a vacation somewhere else and new, emotionless, heartless minds replaced them. She was so thankful to not have been picked to go to the Gar-Chi academy.

ThaiLaan sat across from her, meditating under the loud, mind-distracting noises that came from all around. It was finally when she opened her eyes to look around that she got up. "I must get ready. I would suggest you to do the same."

Mei Ling just nodded and looked out to the colosseum's centre, where the battles were nearly about to be arranged. It wouldn't be in a while yet, though. The judges were still looking over scrolls and writing records.

She thought of Crane, once again. She wondered how he did in the tournament, and if he made it into the second round, also. _I bet he did. _She smiled, realizing how far they've come. It slowly faded, as her eyes moved to the blurred distance. _What if I don't get to see him? This whole time? _She sighed, and crossed her legs. _I guess I'll just have to find out. _She closed her eyes and meditated, knowing that the horn will blow when the judges are ready to take on the next round.

ThaiLaan got to a nice peaceful spot to do her stretching. She ached from the bruises that were cast upon her in the first few battles, but she managed. _I wish they had split the tournament into two days, at least. _She rolled her neck._ But then again, all the others must be in the same situation as I. _She bent down to touch her toes, managing to both her palms on them. She looked over to see a couple males checking her out. She just shook her head and looked back down.

Once her muscles felt loose, she stood back up, to see a crane fast-walking out of the Colosseum. She tilted her head in question, soon finding her mouth open to yell. "Crane!" She made her way over to the startled bird. _I know him... I do know him __somehow..._

Crane looked to her, and paused. Hesitated. "Well hi, uh..."

ThaiLaan then realized his personality. It was the type that Mei always spoke of. "That _is _your name, no?"

"Yes, it is." He looked around.

"I'm ThaiLaan, a friend of Mei Ling. Do you know her?" ThaiLaan asked.

Crane blinked in a somewhat surprised manner. "I'm sorry, I have to be on my way-"

"She told me much of you." She hinted, turning to the side, looking to the theatre's centre. She could feel his thoughts turn, as he stopped and looked back to her.

"Like... what?"

The snow leopard smiled on the inside. "I would much rather not get into detail, but she was looking forward to seeing you here. Where were you heading?"

"I uh..." Something clicked in his head, as he looked away. "I was leaving."

"What for?"

"Because," he thought. Seconds passed. "I think I know you, too." He said, shifting the subject. "Do you know Xiang?"

The conversation then turned awkward. ThaiLaan just realized that she did not want to talk to him anymore, because he said that, _word_.

"Because he... he told me much about you, too."

She turned to face him, realizing his eyes first, and how they were exactly as Mei had described them. "Like... what?"

* * *

"_Come." A masculine voice rang through my head, as I turned to see who it was. A wolf in a suit, beckoning me to follow him. I did, without question._

_Before long we were inside an abandoned warehouse amidst all of the strange-looking buildings. "Their names are Black and White." He took off his glasses, to show dilated pupils. "They control who we are, and what we are to become. They are good and evil, even and opposite, yin, and yang." He spoke slowly, as if he was being watched._

"_Wh...why are you telling me this?"_

"_Because you are one of the six that will have to stop these spirits from corrupting all the life they own."_

"_But... I have no fighting abilities, how can I ever stop something like that if I don't know how to fight?"_

_All I could see was a smile touch the cheeks of the wolf's face in the low light. "In time, you will know. You will all know."_

Viper opened her eyes once more. Blinked. She was in a tent, she saw, and covered with a blanket. She was shivering from the bursts of pain all throughout her body.

"You're healing, Viper." A feminine voice came.

The snake looked over to see a red panda looking her over with caring eyes. It was Meifeng, Master Shifu's friend. "This would be the worst part of your healing, because of all the pain, but in a day or so, you should be able to move about freely."

Viper struggled to speak. "I can already do that." She seemed to challenge the red panda's words.

"I'd rather you not." Meifeng spoke back quickly. "I wouldn't want you to pass out again."

Viper looked about, uncomfortably. "I've... been having these weird dreams."

"I suppose it is because you're hurt. What are they about?"

"They're kind of ongoing. When I go back to sleep, it's as if it picks back up where it started..."

* * *

The second round was about to start. Xiang had already lost his hopes regarding Crane fighting. He thought he had convinced him otherwise, but now there's not even a chance. The white puma sighed. _Where would he run off to, anyways... _He began to see the Gar-Chi warriors line up to fight the next round. There would only be thirty-two contestants, but only thirty-one would show up...

"...I have never thought of him, that way..." ThaiLaan straightened, after Crane had told her Xiang's side of the story, when they had split up.

Crane sighed. "The only thing left I can say is that he's a good guy, and that he would never have the heart to hurt someone like that. It must've been a mistake."

ThaiLaan all-knowingly chuckled. "Love. Love is a mistake. When it breaks your heart to love, you realize what you're getting yourself into."

Crane sighed, as he hesitated to speak. "I-I would be happy living with those mistakes." He looked up to the snow leopard. "They're what you learn from. And I'm pretty sure you've learned from Xiang's mistakes."

ThaiLaan smiled. "And what of you? If you're content to fall helplessly in love, why not make those mistakes?"

Crane blinked. That was the same context of a question that Xiang was asking him. It was because of his fear. Of his nervousness, of his anxiety. Whenever things got out of hand, he would always quit last minute and come back later, looking to clean up the business with kind words. It was because he was shy. It was why he was a janitor in the first place... _Do I really want to live like this my whole life? _He looked down. "I guess it's because I can't let myself." He looked back up to her. "I think I understand, now." He smiled. "I'm gonna go for it." And with that, he turned on his little feet, and began making his way quickly back to the centre. Back to the tournament. Back, to fight.

ThaiLaan lightly shook her head, looking up, soon realizing that she was supposed to be down there, too. She quickly rushed along to follow Crane.

_**BMRRRRR!**_

The horn sounded loudly, snapping Mei Ling out of her meditation, as she made her way to the tournament.

Xiang was already lined up, as he stuck his bare chest high, among the hissing Gar-Chi all around him. It was only he, and a couple other Faim Lee Academy students that made it to the second round. The white puma set his jaw firmly. _I'm ready to win this tourna__ment._

To his right, he saw a familiar figure step in. He looked, and to his astonishment, saw Crane. He just grinned, and looked forward. "I knew my persuading would get to you."

He could hear a chuckle come from the bird. "Yep, you definitely got to me."

"Those of you who survived up till now are true warriors. You, all thirty-two of you, are thirty-two of the greatest warriors in all of China, and..."

Mei Ling rolled her eyes. "Just get this speech over with so we can battle!" She spoke in a low tone, only allowing ThaiLaan to hear her.

The snow leopard nudged Mei hard in the arm. "Patience."

"...This day will be marked in all the little history scrolls that the townsfolk and schools will teach, this day will be recorded forever in history's endless book, this day of the Zang-Shi Colosseum's Sixth tournament!" The crowds burst with excitement, making all the lined up warriors cringe at the sound, as it rung through their ears like a million wooden wheels treading over rock ground. "**Let the tourname****nt, begin!**"

And with that cue, the masters said their last words to their students, and let them line up in front of the sixteen other warriors. Judges told the warriors who they will be fighting, as they lined up and faced each other intimidatingly.

Xiang was getting overly-angry at his Gar-Chi opponent, clenched fists, fangs showing in a hiss and eyes blaring with rage. Crane was against a Gar-Chi warrior as well, considering there was nearly no one from their academy there, expect Xiang, Crane, ThaiLaan and Mei Ling.

The first ones up were two Hun Gar-Chi students. They growled at each other with such ferocity that Mei Ling questioned if they were really in the same academy together.

_Tweeeeeet!_

The two cheetahs started battling, throwing artistic yet raged fists and maneuvered slickly. It took Mei back at how fast and tireless they were. Once one was thrown out, the next round started. And the next, and the next.

ThaiLaan saw one of the students from the Faim Lee Dah Academy get kicked out harshly, as the cheetah walked around on all fours staring her down, and eventually spitting near where she lay. The snow leopard squinted her eyes in disapproval. _They're going down._

_Tweeeeeet!_

Mei Ling was up. She nodded at the judge, as she and her competitor got up on the battle grounds. The bricks below looked unforgiving, as she remembered seeing many of her team mates get struck down harshly here. She took a deep breath, and got into stance. The huge-looking cheetah glared at her with his blank eyes, and growled.

_Tweeeet!_

* * *

"It's complete nonsense." Meifeng concluded, although the tone in her voice seemed to be covering up something guiltily. "These are just dreams, Viper. You have been going through a tough life up to now, and you're at the certain age that-"

"B-but it feels so real! Every single time I sleep, I dream of _that! _It won't go away." Viper desperately spoke.

Meifeng sighed. She stroked the flowers on Viper's head. "All will be well, Viper. They're just dreams, no matter how real they feel." She paused. "Try going back to sleep, and if you have that dream again, ask that animal why he's telling you these things, okay?"

Viper just sighed, and lightly put down her head. "Fine."

The red panda exited the tent. Viper could hear her conversing to Master Shifu about her dreams.

"Did you tell her anything?" She could hear him grunt.

"Shh, Shifu. She is still awake..."

* * *

Mei Ling raised her paw to stop yet another lightening fast blow from the cheetah. His attacks were completely accurate, and he was overpowering her. She began to find that she was even too weak for him. Every single time she tried to go for a weak spot, or any spot at all, a wall seemed to block her blows, as it threw her completely off-balance. She began to loose her strength. His blows were hard and powerful. Every single time he threw a punch, she would block it, but finding another bruise on the spot that she blocked it with. She was running out of breath!

Frantically, she lunged beside him and **nailed **him hard in the side, but he was rock hard. It was as if she was punching a brick wall. She gasped as he swung his leg around, finding her face on the hard ground.

"Come on, Mei! Get up!" She could hear someone from the audience scream. Yelling in frustration, she lifted herself quickly off the floor, and directed a fast punch to the cheetah's face, but was thrown down again by a massive blow right above the chest and below the neck. She could feel the wind knock out of her, as she hit the ground. She could feel tears jerk their way out of her eye lids, as she grunted in pain.

Everything seemed to slow down. Slow... down... she could see the massive animal above her, raising a huge foot and descending it on her stomach to knock her out of the ring. As she braced herself for the unforgiving impact, she looked to the crowd. A figure in that crowd nearly made her loose even more breath than what she had. A figure she recognized, a figure she knew well.

It was Crane.

He was yelling, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Mei Ling! Come on, get up! Get up! Mei!"

As if in reaction, the pain, the emotion, the adrenaline rushed back into her body all at the same time, as she hissed, smacking the cheetah's descending foot to the side with lightening speed, making him trip and almost fall, but he caught himself. But that gave Mei Ling enough time to get up, and slam her heel into his lower spine, pinning him to the ground. She spun, foot in the air, and slammed it down on the cheetah's side. He fell to the ground, and limply rolled out of the ring, clutching his side.

There was a moment of speechless silence.

**Yeah! Go Mei Ling! **The crowds burst out with a cheer. The air seemed to flow with joy, as all the built up adrenaline was passed away, and she stood, staring at the crowd, suddenly filled with prowd. That was the toughest fight she had ever done. Even harder than her and ThaiLaan's fights, and she won. She saw Crane jump for joy and cheer without a care in the world who was watching him. She made it to the next round. She made it to the next round!

_**Tweeeeet!**_

The next battle had started, as she had to quickly make it off the battle ground, confused with glee and satisfaction, yet pain from the blows she received during the fight. "How in the world!" The snow leopard ran up to her and hugged her tightly, as Mei cringed at the bruises being pressed. "Fantastic, Mei!" ThaiLaan cheered, but was quickly quieted down by the judges. Mei put her hand up to her chest where she was hit. A big bruise, she knew. But it was alright. _I made it to the next round, that'__s all that matters... _She saw Crane nod in approval, as he stood on the other end of the battle ground.

She couldn't help but smile back.


	10. Brother?

Chaspter 10

Brother?

* * *

The audience that nearly overfilled the stadium booed the Gar-Chi contestant into the stage, as he proudly walked to the center. His contestant, ThaiLaan. He was grinning in this demonic kind of way, it made the snow leopard uneasy. He had grey, dilated eyes that seemed to follow her every nudge. His paws twitched in anger and desperate need to fight. His dark orange fur was spotted with black dots, as every cheetah, but was also covered in these white lines of fur that seemed alien to his figure. They were scars, everywhere on his body.

Disgusted, ThaiLaan bowed dishonourably, sarcastically. The cheetah did not bow, but kept his face shifted, as if he was going to burst out into screams and foul remarks at her any moment.

He spat. A white sack of venom splat over-conspicuously near ThaiLaan's foot. She hissed, clenching her fists in concealed rage.

"How bout after this fight we head to the bunkers and find a room, darling." He shifted his head to the side, as the snow leopard heard several _cra-cra-cracks. _"That is, if you think you can handle me."

"_Oh, I'll handle you alright._" ThaiLaan spoke under her breath, tightening her jaw and readying her stance. The cheetah stayed stationary.

_**TWEEEET!**_

ThaiLaan waited for her opponent to attack, like she always did, but he did not. He stood, staring at her with that devilish grin on his smuckered face, waiting also. "Well? Whatever are you waiting for?"

She grunted as she ran towards him, shifting and brining her foot to his left knee, but it wasn't there. Sliding to a stop, she looked behind her. On the other side of the battle ground stood the cheetah, arms crossed, head shaking. "It's like a game of chess." The crowds booed even louder at the Gar-Chi warrior, screaming at him to fight back.

ThaiLaan hissed and fastened toward him once again, swinging a fist to the side of his head, as he swiftly dodged it without putting on a sweat. "...you never want to move your pawn first." Another swing to the head, but another dodge. "Because what can they do? They have a fish's vision." ThaiLaan nearly screamed as she twisted back round and tried to force a fist into his stomach, but it was immediately caught by a large fist. "If you want to go offense, you must use yourself in the most vulnerable yet powerful way possible." He squeezed her fist tighter, as he threw her down to the brick floor. "I would prefer getting out your queen." He shoved a large foot into her stomach, but only so much as to make her roll a few inches from the battle ground's boundary.

The snow leopard moaned softly, as she staggered her breathing. She could see the cheetah walk his way across the ground, as the crowds rioted even further. She gasped as she staggered up, taking in as much air as she could, before it would get blown out once again. She growled, as she stepped forward. Got into stance.

The cheetah chuckled once more. "If I hadn't known you were so enduring, I would have kicked you out already."

ThaiLaan squinted at him among the distracting noises and screams coming from the audience. Though it seemed impossible, she grinned right on back, making him shift confusingly. "And what is this, fish eyes? You're fighting the way you just told me not to."

The cheetah blinked, soon growling and speeding at her with inanimal speed. She braced herself, as she stepped quickly to the side, redirecting a half-formed fist to the shoulder. He staggered, giving her the chance to step behind him and grasp his neck with one hand and his side with the other. Twisting him to the left, she slammed his face perfectly to the ground, grunting as she did so. She smacked a foot into his side like he did her, as he flew out of the ring.

The crowd cheered with an enthusiasm she had never seen before. "I can't believe it! Another Faim Lee Dah Academy student has beaten a Hun Gar Chi!" A grown pig exclaimed within the oblivion of cheers and roars coming from around him.

ThaiLaan softly walked over to the downed cheetah, trying not to show her pain. "And besides. You can't move your queen without moving your pawn." She spun back on her heels, and walked back to her team mates, who cheered with just as much enthusiasm as the crowd did.

* * *

"I want to know what these dreams of yours are about." Shifu sat, cross legged and arms on his knees. He sighed. "I need to return you to your mother before she begins to worry, and I'm afraid we won't have any time to talk, then."

Viper felt something strike her stomach. _I completely forgot about my mothe__r... It's been a day already! _"My dreams... they feel real, like when I sleep here, I wake up there."

"That is how all dreams feel, Viper. It's just until you wake up, when you feel something is absurd or not. If you don't remember this world feeling awkward, then that world must be the dream. Now tell me." He sat back.

Viper took a second to think. "All I remember is a lady spotted leopard telling me to ready myself for something, then a wolf repeating the same thing to me."

"Ready yourself for what?"

"...they..." She tried to recall what she had dreamed about. "They were talking something about yin and yang and how I'll have to keep it in order, or something."

"Yin and yang..." He looked puzzled. "How could you ever disorder yin and yang?"

"That's all I can remember." She looked around, frustrated. "Do you have anything I can eat?"

Shifu quickly perked up. "Right! That is what I was forgetting." He stepped out of the tent to fix something that was cooking in a small kettle over a peaceful fire.

* * *

The sun was almost set on top of the plains, casting long shadows in the Colosseum. Xiang was dueling with a Gar-Chi warrior as it fell behind the horizon. Panting, the white puma began to think, _How are we gonna fight in the dark, like this? _Not only that, but dark clouds began to roll into the stadium, hinting rain. Hard rain. He blocked a high kick. Threw it forcefully back round, and slammed an elbow below the cheetah's right shoulder, a good weak spot. _They better postpone the tournament for a later day or __something 'cause things are gonna go bad- _dodged another fist.

Crane felt something very lightly smack the top of his head. He looked up. A small droplet of water seemed to splash against his searching eye. He twitched his head back down in response. "It's... _raining?_" Another drop.

Someone in the audience perked up amidst the cheers and boos. "It's raining!" _It's... raining? _It was raining. Though still very rarely a drop would fall onto him, it was raining. In a dry, dusty desert! Many of the animals were holding scrolls above their heads to keep dry.

Xiang grunted, as his foot slipped from being set down on a watery spot on the ground. "Dammit-" _**PMM! **_A sudden rush of blood to the head nearly knocked him unconscious as a blow to the shoulder spun him back, as he fell for the first time in the thirty seconds of battle. The cheetah hesitated no further to run up to him and give a finishing blow. In a quick prereaction, Xiang held his paw out to block the foot blow, but didn't manage to block all of it. He flung across the grounds, somehow managing to stumble to his feet while flying. He tried to stop himself, as his feet touched the line of the out zone. Grunting, he bent his back further and flung around his arms as he tried to keep balance, because if he didn't, he would fall out and not make it to the next round. But the ground was wet. He was uneasy and weak. And worst of all, the cheetah was sprinting at him, ready to kick him out.

He regained his balance, and panted through his now wet fur. The cheetah was running on all fours towards him. Impatient yet subtle not to charge back, he stood his ground, yet shaking in fury and pain. "Commere, **bastard**!" He screamed as the cheetah collided with him. The white leopard surprisingly managed to slip his hand from his opponents shoulder to his stomach as he shifted it, forcing the cheetah to restep, giving Xiang enough time to give a firm head shot with his foot. The Gar-Chi warrior flipped sideways, tumbling out of the ring. Xiang slipped with the single foot that held him up from the slippery battle ground.

Bursts of glee erupted from the crowd, as they grew more and more surprised at the three fighters' feat. No one could ever defeat a Gar-Chi. No one, until now. Although completely soaked from the rain, they were overcome with gratitude and joy. Many were fleeing to the sides of the stadium, where a thick brick roof sheltered them from the storm.

Crane congratulated his friend, soon reverting his eyes to the judges. _They're going to call it off, aren't they?_He could see them observing him, then making nodding gestures to each other and jokingly talking. They didn't have to worry about the rain, considering they had thick silk cloths over their desks-

Crane quickly gasped as a pain came gushing to his side. Quickly bringing his wing over to nurture it, he squeezed his eyes further shut. It was the bruise that he got from the last match. It was as if he was receiving it once over, as all the same discomfort and nausea came back to him. He couldn't help but stagger his breathing. He could hear a faded voice bubble its way into his hearing, but the flow of blood through his ears blocked it out. "My s-" He clenched his stomach once again as another rush of pain forced its way into his nerve system without his consent. "M-my, side..."

He finally opened his eyes to find himself on the floor, being cared for by Xiang, while the three other components of the match standing beside them just watched.

"Great way to congratulate me, Crane." Xiang punched the bird lightly on the wing, and helped him up.

Crane stood back up, shaking from the aftermath of the seizure of pain that randomly came from his side.

"You okay, Crane?" Xiang spoke with an edge on his voice: half panting, half concerned.

"I'll be fine."

The judges motioned for the next battle to start.

The white puma brought his head back up, his snow white fur now a dark grey from the warm rain that fell. It no longer drizzled, but stormed. "You gotta be kiddin' me." He panted further. "You can't fly in the rain!"

"Who said I was supposed to?" Crane said, not making it a question, but more of a statement. He walked up to the center of the field.

He could hear Xiang yell from behind him. "Look I know you're trained to fight on the ground, but this still takes away from..." His voice trailed off, as Crane blinked at his competitor.

He entered very slowly. The silhouette was distorted, different than what Crane had expected. He had expected a large figure, one larger than him. He expected a cheetah, a soaking wet from the rain competitor that would only be able to fight on the ground, but no...

His opponent, was a bird.

* * *

Viper sipped her soup. It was far from delicious. Thoughts and questions swarmed her mind, as she sighed, finally. "Master Shifu." She looked up to the red panda who was meditating.

"Yes, Viper."

"I never liked Kung Fu. I never wanted to fight. But if I have to do it for my future and to avenge my father, I'll do whatever it takes."

A pause. "What are you getting at?"

"I _mean..._" She took a second. "I mean I want to be trained to fight." She looked to Shifu. "And you're the only one who can train me."

Shifu quickly came up with alternative solutions, but he stopped himself from speaking. _It is for the best, Shifu. _He looked at her. "I will look to it."

"My dreams have been telling me to learn to fight, too, Master Shifu-"

"I will look into it, Viper, that wasn't a no." He looked away reluctantly, but promisingly.

Viper couldn't help but slightly smile, as he exited the tent.

* * *

"You thought kung fu tournaments were only a single variety?" The other bird lifted up his hat, shooting blood red eyes at Crane. "Kung Fu is diverted; it uses every style known to animal. It is a melting pot of techniques, many newly made. It's time for me to test your ability in the ways of the Crane."

He blinked. _...I've only been trained the the art of the typical warrior... that's what they prepared me for! _He then realized something in the way the bird looked. Among the droplets of oblivion that distorted his opponent even more, he could make out a figure he had always seen. A figure he had always been accustomed to... it was a Crane, as well. But not only that... there was a certain resemblance that Crane couldn't figure out. It was the shape of his beak, the walk of his long legs, the figure of his being...

"Zen? Brother?" Crane came to the conclusion.

"My name is Mono." His crimson bulbs of eyes flashed. He spread his huge wings, as he impossibly hovered above the ground in the pouring rain.

_**TWEEEEEET!**_

Caught inattentive, crane saw a flash of water flush into his eyes that the other bird swung. He reacted by turning his head slightly, before realizing that he did. What a mistake. A quick _**BMM **_smacked into his face, as he tumbled over. The other crane maneuvered so quickly that Crane didn't know what to think. A blow to the leg, a blow to the wing, a blow to the chest. He stood firm.

"Get up and fly, maggot!" Another sharp pain shot into his chest.

Grunting, he obeyed. Struggling to fly, he managed to get a few metres off the ground. Gasps and hushes came from the crowd. They began to whisper if that other bird came from the Hun Gar-Chi Academy, considering they only take cheetahs, or, from what they've heard...

"You look like a child! Do you not _know _how to battle off the _ground?_" Mono dove straight for Crane, but missed, nearly shooting out into the end zone.

Crane was completely shocked, still. Not only was his competitor an animal of his species, but also his brother. His _brother! _Thoughts began to push their way into his mind. _What happened? Was he forced into the Hun Gar-Chi Academy when he moved out of the house? _Crane quickly flipped in air as Mono charged once again. Crane quickly spoke, "What happened to you?"

"I don't know what on Earth you're talking about." Mono rushed to Crane, bringing a swift talon to his stomach. Crane spun in air to dodge, but fell to the ground from the rain that heavied his wings. Grunting, he got back up, to block a fast blow with the other Crane's foot. It was different, though. Normally he was used to blocking harsh blows from rhinos and Xiang, but this felt like a stick was being chucked at him.

He took a step forward, gaining confidence. Another block. And another.

Mono smiled. "I see how this is." He ascended, and waited for Crane to come up to him. "Come and fight the way you were born to fight."

Crane held his ground. "You'll just loose energy flying up there."

"I was trained for this. But you? You weren't trained for anything but strength. That's what's wrong with your academy, is that it was built to train rhinos and felines. That's what's wrong with **all **of your academies!" He yelled at the top of his lungs to the audience and the remaining few warriors from the Faim Lee Dah Academy students. "You are truly pitiful."

In a shot of rage, Crane shot up from his position to nail Mono straight in the chest with a foot. But he dodged it. A _smack _hit Crane's face, as he growled – for once in his whole life, he growled – and spun back around to direct a foot over to Mono's wing. Hit. The other bird was sent down, as he dove fast. He quickly caught himself, laughing. _Laughing! He's playing with me! _Raged, Crane jolted to Mono and did a 360 spin, bringing his foot to the other crane's head, but missed. He nearly hit the ground also, but painfully managed to fly back up. The other bird was behind him, as Crane quickly spun around to meet him, face to face, for once. His cerise eyes were dilated. His face was distorted from long days of forced meditation and battle. He was missing a couple feathers, but he looked exactly like Crane.

They were equal now. Mono had a downed wing, which seemed to struggle to move every time he frantically flapped in the pouring rain, and Crane had a side injury that pounded pain into the rest of his body, refusing to stop.

Mono was the first to strike, this time. It was a foot to the chest. Blocked. Crane directed his wing over to the side of the other bird's head. Dodged. Swung and threw a foot at his flapping wing. Blocked. Dodge, block, parry, block, dodge, dodge, block. They were both panting, as the crowd's cheers got louder and louder until they couldn't hear themselves think. Crane could hear voices from Mei Ling and ThaiLaan and Xiang and all of his other team mates scream at him to not give in, to keep flying, to keep at this, to keep at that, to defeat his brother, but... Crane felt a sudden weak spot for fighting his beloved brother among the blocks and dodges. Just enough of a millisecond for Mono to-

_**PMMM!**_

Crane's vision went grey. The sky grew smaller. The ground grew bigger. The unimaginable pain of burning blood screamed from his side as it was struck. **Struck. **Crane couldn't feel. The shots of oblivion that screamed from the side of his stomach, seemed to make the rest of his physical being stay quiet... still... as the ground came up to meet him. In an unconscious effort to survive the fall, Crane extended his wings and flapped, flapped, flapped frantically, fla-

_**BAP!**_

The noise was unbearable for Mei Ling to stand. The sight was the second thing that appealed to her pathos. Then the other crane that slowly descended downward filled the audience with silence.

Complete silence.

"I've already won." Crane could hear Mono whisper, as he constantly twitched from the throbbing pain that began to set in.

"I'm not... o-out of the ring, yet." Crane got up, shivering from the chill of the rain and the bleeding pain that erupted from his side. "Why don't you finish what you **started!**" He quickly and surprisingly shot to Mono, grabbing him out of the thin air and pinning him to the ground, as they both tumbled out of the ring.

Silence.

Complete silence. The crowd didn't know whether to cheer or to gasp from the sudden outburst of Crane.

Crane rolled over, to see his opponent next to him, eyes slowly opening, looking back to him. "Your name is Zen... and you are my brother." Crane painfully whispered, simultaneously blinking several times from the water that splashed constantly over his eyes.

Mono struggled to get up. "I don't know... what you're talking about." He limped away, as his master began to yell at him.

Confused murmurs erupted from the audience, as they all looked to the audience.

Xiang, ThaiLaan and Mei Ling ran to Crane's side, as they needfully looked him over. "Are you okay?" "Who was he?" "Who won?"

Questions that Crane did not want to answer. Did not know the answer to. The only question that he had in his mind though, was _Why would he deny that he was my brother... _as his tears of pain blended in with the rain.


	11. Unsettled Business

Chapter 11

Unsettled Business

* * *

_I was fifteen when my family was on the verge of breaking up and taking our own paths in the wide world. I was socializing with the couple of friends I had near Mirror Lake with the feel that I was not going to see them in a long while, or maybe forever. We were in need of money, so I took on the job of working as a janitor for the Faim Lee-Dah academy. It was a tough spot, but me and my brother were one of the toughest cranes of our family; we could take on anything._

_My sisters were scholars. They flew to the furthest parts of China to learn and teach the ways of life and joy. My parents stayed at home and depended on the money I sent them every month to live. But my brother... my brother was a party-goer and starter. He created trends and models for others to follow with their intent need to fit in. Rumours came around that he got accepted into a club of some sort. He often came home drunk, but barely so. It was a hint of intoxication that disgusted me, though the others couldn't see. Then one day, he took off saying that he got a deal with his club and that if he follows through, he will earn the ultimate gift._

_I could remember looking around at his empty room with my parents, as we silently reminisced his presence. I could feel my parents quietly weeping, but I stayed stagnant. It was only after I left to work at the Academy that I began to wonder where he went. He was supposedly the pride of our family, but-_

"I see no pride." Crane whispered under his breath, glancing back. He was assisted by Xiang and Mei Ling on both of his wings as they walked away to shelter from the recent battle. The pouring rain soaked his feathers and their fur, as it made the stone ground slippery to traverse. His brother looked emotionless. His crimson eyes seemed to glow among the darkness that soon covered the arena. He refused to look at Crane, as he was being verbally abused by his master. All he did was sit, and stare.

"Looks like you won, Crane." Mei Ling spoke through her fatigue.

Crane wanted to keep his head down and close his eyes in frustration from the moment, but he built up the strength to chuckle. "It does, doesn't it?" He looked to Xiang, careful not to whack him with his beak. "Those Gar-Chi warriors sure know how to strategize."

"Are you kiddin me? I could've taken that guy down in two hits. One to slap him outta the sky, one to kick him out." Xiang seemed angered. He stopped walking for a moment to look back at the lamb judges who ruffled through their scrolls under a leaky tent. Sighed. "It shouldn't be a tie. Then you'd both be out and one of _us _has to do another round."

"I sure hope it won't be-" Crane clenched his beak tightly in pain as his side pulled at his muscles to turn to jelly. Mei and Xiang caught him just in time, as they quickly set him in a dry spot underneath a few of the many large pillars that created the Colosseum.

"Poor Crane..." Mei brought her hazel eyes over to his, as she wasn't hesitant to lightly rub his side. "You're still wounded from that battle..."

_I gasped._

_Another punch to the side. It pushed my muscles to freeze and bid my form to keep stagnant. My wings stood partially out as the beast walked away. _

_All I could make out... were his dark, glowing yellow globes of eyes..._

"_Crane. Crane... _Crane!" The bird blinked his eyes quickly open as they met with Xiang's. "Don't black out on me, man. You can do that in the bunks."

"Is he alright?" Mei turned to Xiang.

Crane brought his long neck up and looked back at the center of the Colosseum where the potential battles were to begin. _What was... what _was _that? _He stood up carefully with the help of the others, as he beckoned them to keep going.

ThaiLaan looked down at Crane in pity. "Can he still fight?"

"Of course he can still fight. He's still walking, isn't he?" Xiang snapped. The voices around him seemed to fade from his fatigue. Soft thunder, a quiet intensity rolled in the distance that kept him awake.

Once they made it to the bunkers he was helped perch on a rough looking bench. ThaiLaan crouched to Crane's height. "You're wounded. We need to take care of those cuts and bruises before the match starts again-"

"ThaiLaan he's strong. He'll get through it, bandages only slow him down." Xiang spoke, his head half turned to them.

The snow leopard glared up at Xiang. "You want him to suffer, drenched in this rain? For Kung Fu's sake Xiang, we can take the bandages off if he needs to go into battle-"

"_When, _he goes back into battle. All he needs is rest-"

"Is this all you care about?" ThaiLaan turned to Xiang. "You want to win. And the only thing that keeps you fighting is Crane here. He's horribly injured, and you shrug it off like a flea on your shoulder just so you can keep him in the tournament?" Her golden eyes flashed.

"I don't want him to give in, and sounds like you're trying to _make _him give in. That's your problem, ThaiLaan, you can't commit to these things, you want everyone to go your way and quit."

"That's completely false! I-"

Crane's droopy eyes forced him not to care or listen in on anything they were saying. He didn't want healing, true, but he couldn't heal in the time that the third round would start back up – that is, if he made it. He just wanted something... some_one _to give a care and comfort him.

"...and this even applies to every situation you've ever been in, I think we should take it slow, I think we should save it for another time, I think we should give it another thought, can't you just trust your senses and be a little more impulsive, ThaiLaan?-"

A paw touched both of their shoulders. Mei Ling looked into ThaiLaan's eyes. "You guys go cool off somewhere. I'll take care of Crane."

ThaiLaan clenched her jaw as she looked at Crane. Then walked away. Xiang exchanged glances with Mei Ling, and followed after ThaiLaan.

"Thanks." Crane lightly smiled, one eye forced closed from a blow to the cheek.

Mei Ling didn't smile back. Her eyes were filled with care and friendship. The type of look Crane would only see once in a life time. "You're going to make it out of this, okay? I've always dreamed that you'd get this far in Kung Fu, and here you are."

He felt a quick rush of warmth as the mountain cat lightly squeezed his damp body with hers in an affectionate hug. "I missed you, Crane..."

"I-I missed you, too." He couldn't find another reason why, but he tasted a little bit of home, a little bit of belonging again, a little bit of comfort.

* * *

"Just walk away, ThaiLaan. That's what you always do."

The snow leopard grunted and turned back around, ears flat, rain dripping from her jaw. "I don't walk away, Xiang. I take action. I was so attached to you that I would have stayed with you like every other female out there, but I chose not to live with that certain attribute of yours." She pointed to his chest, eyes locked with his. "I come home and you're with another female. You think I can just live with that?If you're so committed to the prize, why weren't you committed to me?"

"If I could explain, you would understand. You _know _I don't let others come between you and me."

"Then _why, _were you _sleeping_ with another _female?_" ThaiLaan stammered, eyes quivering.

Xiang stood tall, as he hesitated to speak. "She slept with me. I never chose to-"

"Of course Xiang." The snow leopard took a few steps back. "Of course it was the other way around. Let me guess, she had the authority over you. She dragged you down and you couldn't escape her grasp."

"What will I say that will tell you that it's true?"

"Because everything you say is false."

"ThaiLaan." He brought his sapphire eyes to hers. "Look at me. What do you see?"

"A desperate male looking for a reason for a false love."

Xiang didn't change his face. "What else do you see." He didn't give her the cat eyes, but for some reason, ThaiLaan got the hint that he was being honest. She didn't want to take the hint, but as each and every second passed between them, the picture became more and more clear. "Look at it from my point of view, ThaiLaan. What do you see?"

"I..." Her small brows lowered in absence. One part of her was eager to get to know the reason why he did what he did, the other wanted to get rid of the mess he caused so long ago and move on. _I've been moving on this whole time... I need to take action. _She focused back on his eyes.

As her conscience met with his, the pieces of the puzzle began to fit.

"_C'mon Xiang, one more drink." The lioness smiled lightly at the white puma. "You took a hard hit today, I'm surprised you're still standing."_

"_I know. Those rhinos are slow, but strong." He touched the glass to his mouth and chugged another shot. Slammed it on the counter. "So is this stuff!" He laughed hysterically as the lion poured each of them another drink. _

_Xiang looked to the door of his dorm. "My girlfriend's gonna be here any time. You gotta go, Scarlet. Thanks for the company."_

"_No, no." She touched his shoulder. "We still have time to stay. Tell me again how that battle went?" _

_The white puma chuckled. "Oh man, you should've seen the guy! Seven hundred pounder, swinging a blunt mace right at my face! I dodged the first blow, but when that second one came, I..." He swayed to the side a bit. "I..." He touched his forehead. "I don't feel so good." _

_Scarlet chuckled. "It's because of all the drinks you had, silly." She said as she brought a paw up to his forehead. "That's what I love about males like you... you can withstand something for so long and strongly keep at it. I thought you were going to pass out from your fifth shot." _

_Xiang was surprised. "Wh... what? How many shots have I had?" _

_Scarlet suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck as she turned him to her. "Does it matter?" She brought him close. Slid her hand down to his bicep. "That's the kind of animal I need... a strong, hefty male that understands the demands of battle..." She tightened her paw around his muscle and brought her head to his neck, breathing on it. "...and of love..." She brought her paw down to the rim of his pants, soon sliding down a little further until a spike of pleasure filled Xiang's senses. _

"_Scarlet..." He closed his eyes. He wanted to protest, to push her away, but he hadn't the mind to. Instead he did the opposite of what his brain told him to, and lifted her up and brought her to the bedroom. _

_The next thing he felt was the quick rush of blood to the head and his conscience returning to him when he heard ThaiLaan's gasping voice. He opened his eyes to his girlfriend walking out on him and his training buddy beside him, awake and aware of all that was happening, but refusing to take opposing action. _

_As Scarlet put the last of her clothes on, she turned to the white puma. "You were wonderful." She turned and walked away, but before reaching for the handle of the heavy wooden door to leave, she glanced back around to the half-asleep Xiang. "I heard the academy is splitting up the males and females tomorrow. I suppose this can't be a situation at all then, since it's potential that you will break up with that snow leopard of yours." She smiled. "It was nice meeting you nonetheless." And with that, she walked out. _

"I see the old Xiang." ThaiLaan pulled away, as she broke the locking of their eyes. "The foolish... old Xiang I always knew..."

Xiang stepped closer to her, and brought his paw to her elbow. "This is how I've always been, ThaiLaan... I've never changed." He slightly pulled her closer. "My love's never changed." He drew closer to her, and touched his lips to her's. Her heart jumped several times as the moment embraced her, but as quickly as it came, it went.

She pulled away quickly, observing him critically. Blinked a couple times. "I'll see you in the ring." She turned, and walked away.

* * *

"I can understand why they split the academies, but I'm not happy with it. All my friends were beside themselves with sadness when they realised they had lost their buddies in the male Faim Lee-Dah academy. I felt no different." Mei Ling sat on the side of the bench where Crane sat, as his side slowly began to pulse the pain away. "Every night was a time where we'd sit in our bunks and think about the other academy... and I'm sure you did the same."

Crane didn't bother to reply, but nod in confirmation. He was tired, and wanted to save his energy. He wanted to speak subject after subject over with her as they passed him by, but he kept still, silent, quiet.

"...and that's where I met ThaiLaan. She was the closest thing I had to family. Since you left, I've had no one to open up to and talk to." She chuckled as she thought back. "I remember introducing myself to you. You were just the janitor, remember?"

The bird wanted to laugh, but simply smiled. "Worst job ever, I can tell you that!"

The mountain cat laughed. "You were one of the most unique animals I've met. And you still are. From the bottom of the food chain to the top. You sure have quite a story. Someone should record you into a scroll of some sort."

They both laughed at the nonsense.

Mei sighed in relief. "And now you're here. Fighting some of the best warriors in western China." Her shoulders lightly raised in an intensity of thought. "Who was that other crane?"

Crane looked away. "I think I knew him. From before." He brought his eyes back to the inside of the stadium. The stands were completely barren. But in the center there were Gar-Chi warriors meditating in the mud and rain. A polar bear was quietly instructing them as he walked in between each of them. He looked fierce, but kind and willing to accept talking to anyone. On the outskirts of the center lay the judgement tables where the many judges discussed over what the next battles were to be.

"He looked exactly like you, Crane." Mei spoke with that slight hint of unbalance that Crane was always used to hearing after any drastic events.

"He scared me." Crane confessed. "Everything I've ever wanted to be was battling me in the ring."

"What do you mean?"

The bird brought his eyes to Mei. "He told me something out there that made me realise that my training wasn't for me. It was for the non-flying contestants, and that I was out of place."

"Well, yes, you _are _a little out of place," Mei added.

"Thanks, Mei." Crane flattened his voice.

"But you have a strong technique. The Crane technique."

Crane slightly tilted his head. "What did you say?"

"The Crane technique. It's a type of martial art in Kung Fu. It's very rarely seen in Kung Fu today, but when it's presented, it's beautiful and flawless." She turned her head to him, ears twitching from a water droplet that hit one of them. "Only a few masters out there still teach it."

Crane brought his head down. "That's probably why I haven't heard of it before..."

"Well from what I saw in the ring, he was using it against you. That's why he was so tough."

"The Gar-Chi academy must've taught him that..." Crane began to understand why he was so impossible to beat down.

Mei Ling looked back into Crane's weary eyes. "How do you know him?"

A hesitation. Crane brought his eyes to the distant foggy inner-Colosseum that was intensely lit by warming fires. "I think among all the ruffled feathers and scarred face, I saw..." He sighed. Brought his eyes to her's. "I saw somewhere in that monster... my brother."

* * *

"_I was kissed by the mighty dragons of yin and yang. As they fall, so will I." The snow leopard crouched down to feel the gravel with her paws. "Corruption is a beautiful thing because it brings change." She looked to the snake with determined eyes, then reverted her gaze to the multiple other animals that stood before her, proud, but scarred from recent battles. "But there must always be a storm before the calm. So I'm afraid we can't accept change. You must help restore the balance before all hell breaks loose." _

_I couldn't understand a single thing that she was saying. From the past she mentioned the two dragons, but she must be speaking metaphorically because there are no more dragons._

"_We are opposites. But united we will forever stand when the balance within our relative selves begins to shift." The snow leopard stopped between two of the felines that stood close to me. She placed a paw on one of their shoulders. "I have taught you all I know, ThaiLaan. Now you must carry my work with you and use all you know to keep the others safe." She brought her golden eyes to the other feline, a male – a familiar looking male – and gave a nod. "I have and will never agree with the decisions that you've made, nor the ones you are about to make, but do know that I carry on inside of you. You have been given a gift, now use what you've been taught by the others to live on. I will miss and love you, Tai Lung-"_

Viper's heart jolted, as her eyes were soon focused on the delicately designed ceiling of her parent's palace. Her breath was cold, her body, aching. "Wh... where have I heard that name, before..." She whispered below her breath.

The silence was broken by the raising of her mother's voice. Viper listened in, but could only make out a few sentences. "...the Jade Palace is no place for her! What could you possibly be thinking, sending her away from me like that?"

"I have complete respect... must take matters into her own hands... a very fierce, bold viper and she is her father's daughter, of the mighty fang..."

A long silence swept the night by.

She could hear a drawn-out sigh. "I have been too clingy with my daughter, and I do wish for her to make it into a great school like your's, but after what happened earlier... you have my respect... I can't let you take her from me like that again. Please, stay away from my daughter."

Shifu conceded with hesitation. "I understand."

Viper's heart slowly sank into her stomach, as the truth took her by surprise. _Mom always thought I was a fighter... but now that he saves me from my father's murderer, she's not even convinced that I should join Master Shifu in the Jade Palace? _She put her head slowly back down onto her spiraled body, as she could hear Master Shifu's steps find their way to the front entrance.

"Master Shifu." She could hear her mother's voice slightly raise in the dead of the night.

A pause.

"She is like her father, isn't she?"

Another pause. Shifu took a breath. "She is one of the most fierce-hearted animals I have seen since I looked into the eyes of one of my closest students, Tigress. I believe she will be as great a master as her father once was." His last step took a slight turn, as if to face her mother. "She defeated the gorilla that put your husband down."

Silence filled the empty space of the room, as Shifu stepped out of the palace, never to come back again.

…

"Your... brother? Of all animals? But how..."

"When I was out there he reminded me of him so vividly. He has all the facial features I so remembered when he took off about a decade ago. The only thing thats changed about him is his eyes."

Mei Ling looked as if all the breath she had in her body was swept away with the night's chill, as she unfocused on Crane's chest. "They... brainwashed him."

Crane looked at the mountain lion. "That's why he doesn't remember me. My family has searched for him ever since he left, and now that I've finally found him he... he doesn't remember me." He took a moment to take a long sigh. "Instead he breaks me. Finds my flaws and stretches them till we stumble out of the ring."

Mei Ling set a paw firmly on his shoulder. "At least you found _someone _here that hasn't forgotten about you." A smile lit up her face.

Crane built up the strength to smile. Amazingly, he was beginning to feel his strength come back. It seemed that it was his long lost friend's company that healed his fatigue. But he was still afraid that if he got up, his side would pull at him again, and drain all the energy he gained. Crane looked away in lament. "He was never much of a fighter though... he just loved to intimidate."

Mei parted her lips. "But all your life you've wanted to fight." She looked away and smiled.

Crane got an impression she was teasing him. "What?"

"...I remember seeing you clean the academy in record timing using all these fancy moves you made up to make your job easier." She blinked. "Have you been practicing flying and fighting at all?"

Crane chuckled. "Me...? W-what are you talking about, the academy would never let-"

"Crane." She touched a finger to the bottom of his beak. "I don't care what the academy thinks. You rose above the rest by doing what you were born to do, _flying_-"

_"Come and fight the way you were **born** to fight."_

Crane gasped as his vision came back to Mei's welcoming face. "...I bet if you fight the way you were born to fight – like the true Crane I saw cleaning that day - you can beat this guy in no time."

The crane looked away. "I... I don't know-"

"Crane." A low, forceful voice came in through the darkness. The fog was beginning to clear, as were the skies. Their master stepped in and gave Crane a concerned look. "I need to talk to you. About that fight."

"Yes, master." Crane almost too quickly got to his feet, as Mei stood next to him, to help him stand. He thanked her, and began to painfully waddle to his master, as they found a quiet spot to chat behind a massive pillar.

"Can you fight, Crane?" The rhino asked with no sense of pity.

The crane nodded. "Y-yes master."

"Good, because that last battle was a mistake. If you were to keep your feet on the ground you could have kept in the ring. You're trained _not _to fly, so why must you do it now, in the most important tournament you're most likely going to live to see?" He sighed. "The scores are in from your last battle. You will be against that Gar-Chi Academy student again, so this time, use your brain, not your wings." He began to walk away, before turning his head again. "Good luck. You and Xiang are my most prized students. The academy is here for you; this is your time to show them what you're made of." And with that, he walked off.

Crane made his way back to Mei Ling, as he leaned against the wall, somewhat frustrated.

"What did he say?"

He brought up his sagging head and slightly grinned. "Well, I made it to the next round."

Mei cheered quietly and brought him into a friendly hug. "Do you know who you're against?" A light gasp escaped her lips, as she drew away. "Don't tell me."

"I'm against my brother, again."

The mountain lion's shoulders lowered, as she closed her mouth. Looked about as if trying to look for aiding words to give. "Well, you couldn't be more ready now than ever before." She said, bringing her hazel eyes to his. "If I were to give any advice, it would be to fight the way you fought that first day of training. By flying."

Crane looked away, shrugging.

"What's wrong?" The mountain lion took a step forward.

The crane hesitated, before bringing his eyes back to her's. "My master just told me that I am-"

"Selfish! She's a selfish cat that can't see right from wrong!" Crane twitched his head to the male voice that came in. "I told her everything and she listens, but she's still too stubborn to see past the past!" Xiang pounded as he barged in, as he stood next to Crane with a paw running through the fur on the top of his head. He took a long sigh, exchanging stubborn glances with the two. The animals surrounding them picked up their heads in attention to the sudden outburst. "Crane, Mei, how do you have it so good?"

"We don't make foolish decisions like you did." Mei Ling spoke with a little rasp in her voice, as she took a step back from them.

"Why won't anyone believe me... it was an accident, it was all..." He turned to the side as his eyes began to quiver. "She doesn't love me anymore... before I thought she was faking it, but I get it now... All these years I've been waiting to see her, I've seen her everyplace we train - in the silent beams of the sunlight shining through the aspens in Travark Valley, my reflection in Mirror Lake, the waves of unconsciousness I feel when I start to drift to sleep, in this very Colosseum, but when we finally talk, I finally realise the fire we had burning went out, and that spark is... no more." He squatted, paw on his forehead. Tears were swelling in his eyes, but he tried to keep them from running down his damp cheek.

Mei Ling gave a heavy eye to Crane, and turned back hesitantly. "You never lost it, Xiang. She..." Mei took a step towards the white puma, placing a paw on his broad shoulder. "She ranted on and on about you back at the camp. Not just of the bad experiences, but... but how much she wanted you back. She still loves you, but she won't let herself get back into you. You ruined her love life, and now she's just an empty shell – never to be filled again."

"It's not fair. It sounds like she passed away."

"In her own love, yes. And _you _were the one who committed the murder. Do you really think she'll forgive you after what you did?"

"Mei Ling, that's not helping." Crane stepped in.

"It's the truth."

Xiang opened his blood shot eyes. "I guess truth is all I need. I gave her my side of the story, but I never knew _her _side, until now. She won't forgive me..."

_**BMMRRRR, BMMRRRR!**_

All the warriors picked up their heads.

"The next round is starting." Crane spoke, as he made his way to the centre of the Colosseum with the other 15 warriors: Mei Ling, Xiang, ThaiLaan, the Gar-Chi, and Mono, his brother.

* * *

"Mom." Viper spoke with the bravest of a voice she could give.

The mother viper turned, after watching Master Shifu tread the steps from their temple. "Viper! You shouldn't be up! You'll hurt yourself trying to stay up!" She observed Viper with worrisome eyes. "You need more bandages, let me get them-"

"No mom. I can take care of myself."

Her mother was stopped in her slither. Looked back to Viper. "Viper, dear, what on earth are you talking about, you need someone to aid you-"

"You heard what Master Shifu said about me. I took revenge on Zhen. The cave collapsed on him when we fought." She looked away for a second. "Mom, I've learned so much since then, and... I realised, I can take on anything on my own."

"I know you can, Viper. But you're not old enough to start your own life out there, where will you go?"

"With Master Shifu."

Her mom seemed to stare at her with surprised eyes for a moment, before shrugging. "I don't believe I can trust him. He almost got you killed!"

Viper slithered up next to her mother, and stared into her eyes. "He _saved me, _from being killed, mom. He patched me up afterwards and fed me... like my father once did. He showed me my true passion in life; I want to protect what is ours, our family's, China's. I want to fight."

Her mother gave a sigh. "You are like your father. Rushed and impatient," She looked back into Viper's eyes. "...but strong and brave. Viper," She stroked her baby girl's head with her tail. "Make a legend of yourself – you've a lot to look up to."

Viper burst into a smile, tears slowly running down her face. "I won't let you down, mom..." She embraced her with a hug.

"I have something to give you." Her mother slivered over to her room, and picked up a piece of carved silver from Viper's father's show case cabinet. A tiny chain hung from the circular medal. On the metal was a clock that had long since stopped working. She placed it around Viper's neck. "Patience is the key to everything. I've kept mine, and it has proved me beneficial. I waited all this time for your fangs to grow, but who would ever know my daughter would learn true combat." She touched the medal with her tail, looking up at Viper. "Whenever in doubt, let time give the answer. It has given me mine, as it will give you yours."

Viper examined it one last time, before saying her goodbyes and packing one thing: her ribbons. She quickly slithered out the doors, and caught up with her future master, and her future father.

* * *

_**A.N: **Please don't send me messages demanding more chapters. Thank you._


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